


Lose It

by alluras-castle (allurascastle)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: As Written By Someone Who Lives In Alaska, General Supernatural Creatures, Kitsune AU, Kitsune Koganes, M/M, Set In Alaska, Werewolf AU, Werewolf Shiroganes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 08:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 36,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10738326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allurascastle/pseuds/alluras-castle
Summary: I wrote this (or, the first part anyway) during October to January, and I haven't edited it since I posted it to tumblr. Finally getting around to posting it here too, for convenience's sake. Sorry it's a little heavy-handed, but homesickness will do that to you.  (Also how much character development can be crammed into a few days without it being unrealistic, but stubbornly writing like...slice of life which means a lot of words happen in a few days in-universe...let's find out?)





	Lose It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [misterpoofofficial](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=misterpoofofficial).
  * Inspired by [Kitsune AU - Oops](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/286401) by Misterpoofoffical. 



> I wrote this (or, the first part anyway) during October to January, and I haven't edited it since I posted it to tumblr. Finally getting around to posting it here too, for convenience's sake. Sorry it's a little heavy-handed, but homesickness will do that to you. (Also how much character development can be crammed into a few days without it being unrealistic, but stubbornly writing like...slice of life which means a lot of words happen in a few days in-universe...let's find out?)

“ _Akira,_ ” Keith complained.

“It’ll be fine, Keith,” his brother insisted. Keith frowned and hoped his unhappy glare bore holes in the back of Akira’s stupid skull. A _human_ having his orb was the opposite of _this will be fine._ He’d die if he were away from his orb too long - even worse was that Akira had no one else to blame for losing it than himself!

He _gave_ it to a human. Not had it _stolen_ \- he parted from it _willingly._ Like a dingus. It didn’t matter that the humans had seemed like they were going to be around for a few days more, at least, and Akira had every intention of snatching it back the next day - now _today_ \- it was still _ridiculous._

And now they were lost _\- lost -_ in the large bustling human city, in an unfamiliar form - Keith had only turned one hundred recently, as in the last decade or so, and thus learned how to shapeshift - wearing stolen clothes. The only thing to guide them towards the human Akira let have his orb, was Akira’s vague sense of which direction it was in. Or, had been; he’d stopped suddenly, gasping and staring up as they chased after the humans who left the rural town they, themselves, occasionally visited under the guise of tourists - Akira was _fascinated_ with them and Keith would never let him forget _this_ stunt in the future - and watched in horror as the airplane - bonus of becoming a kitsune: he could read and had a…omniscience about things. Kind of…mostly only _sort of,_ more like intuitively knowing? - flew over them. That had been when they decided to take human forms, steal clothes, and find a faster form of transportation.

So, vaguely, the orb had been in ‘this’ direction. All that was left was to find the airport it had passed through, find out where the human was going, and book a flight-

Oh by the _heavens._

“ _How_ are we even going to book a flight? _Akira!_ ” Keith clutched at his glossy black hair in frustration.

“I…haven’t figured that out yet.” Akira looked at him over his shoulder. “I was thinking we just…ask nicely. Our powers have to be good for _something._ ” Keith opened his mouth to argue, to tell Akira that this was so dumb and _why_ did he have to leave his orb on the human’s windowsill and knock and- but his brother cut him off. “Just let me handle it, okay? You don’t have to come. This isn’t _your_ problem, Keith.”

Keith clenched his jaw at that and shook his head. “No way. This is life or death- _your_ life or death. _We_ are going to get your orb back and you are _never_ giving it away out if ‘curiosity’ again.” He reached up to settle his hand over his orb, tied on a string and settled just below the hollow of his throat, and squeezed. He felt its energy thrum through his fingertips and sing silently; he heard it in his mind rather than aloud. Reassured, he let go. “And that your plans _suck._ ”

“All right!” Akira shouted, stopped and turning with such suddenness that Keith nearly careened into him, fast reflexes or not. “I get it! But I’ll have you know that he is a _wolf_ turned human, and a _squirrel_ \- you know the one I’m talking about - stole it first. And then he turned into a human and he threw it back into the woods, okay? _That_ is why I gave him the orb - and it wasn’t quite like _that_ either. I owe him for keeping me from oweing that stupid- _stop laughing, it’s not funny! I was taking a bath, dammit, Keith!_ ”

“Ol’ Grayfur…stole your orb?!” Keith tried to stifle the reflexive laughter and covered his mouth with the back of his hand. “ _Akira,_ that is the rookie-” Keith’s voice rose by several pitches as he finished, “-st thing. Hold up, _did you say he was a wolf?!_ ”

His brother turned his eyes upwards, and then to the corners of his eyes. Keith stared incredulously. “A wolf, Akira? Really? Wolves- wolves _eat us._ Like…they are the ancestors of _dogs._ We’re terrified of dogs! W-we can’t even keep human form a-around dogs!”

_Dogs._

Akira raised his hands soothingly. “Just calm down. He seemed harmless; he didn’t eat Ol’ Grayfur and he easily could of…he wasn’t like any wolf I’ve seen before-”

“That’s because the Japanese wolf is _extinct._ You’ve never seen a wolf at all!”

_Dogs dogs dogs._

“-and I think he knew that it was a fox orb…”

Keith covered his mouth and willed himself to keep the screams on the inside. And that he could ignore that weird, almost dreamy tone of voice Akira adopted. Which was weird. Stop that, he was having a _meltdown, Akira._

It made it almost sound like a crush - which they’d gotten a few times, on other kitsune when they met them and humans, actual _humans._

He whispered quietly, before he had even really thought the words through. “I’ll make sure future generations know your story. The kitsune who gave a wolf his orb because of a _crush_ and died. Maybe you spent too long without it. Maybe he _ate_ you. We’ll have to see.”

Akira glowered at him, expression darkening, and then turned around and kept walking. He picked up his previous, hurried pace quickly. “ _If_ I die.”

“Dogs _kill_ foxes!” he yelled in a furious whisper. “And that’s assuming _I_ don’t die too!”

“Then stay here!”

“I already told you why that’s not happening!” he shook his head again, hard, as if it would emphasize his point even though his brother wouldn’t see it. Maybe he would know anyway? It was certainly a possibility. Sometimes they knew weird things. Sometimes, they just knew each other so well as to know their physical gestures without seeing them or having any indication of them.

Akira didn’t respond, instead continuing to all but plow forward, an impressive feat considering he was only about the height of the average Japanese woman they passed, never mind the traveling tourists from other places where they were taller, and more slight than bulky to boot. Keith figured he was using his powers to make people skirt around them. In Akira’s own words, their powers had to be useful for _something._ That something might have just been making people clear a small path they weaved through like racing water seeking the easiest path. After a few moments of speechlessness between them, Keith turned his attention towards the noisy, cacophonous streets and crowds of people. Neon signs hung above the streets and sidewalks, kanji scrawling across their surfaces with cute pictures and logos with them. There was chatter everywhere, from the boards to the people within breathing distance of him, people he brushed shoulders with and tried to shy away from. He caught only snippets out of context and too short for him to piece together.

His ears hated it.

It was too much.

He couldn’t focus. It felt like his senses were being pulled every which way-

_“Sorry I didn’t call sooner-”_

_“-is Vivi-”_

_“-my skirt got-”_

Keith shook his head. _Shut up._

_“-weird weather he-”_

_“-eet me at-”_

_“-talk to you-”_

A hand wrapped around his wrist and he jerked, focusing in on the contact. Akira didn’t even look at him as he dragged him along behind him. “Your ears are starting to show, Keith.” he said urgently. Akira ducked through the crowd, holding his hand in front of him; Keith could see energy cackle in it, but only slightly. Foxfire? No…that wasn’t quite right.

He tossed it down on the ground with wave of his wrist as they entered a side path. Not quite an alley, but there were less people and-

The sounds of the main street, highway, whatever, died down, as if muted through a barrier of cotton. Keith tossed a look over his shoulder to see what the ‘foxfire’ was doing; the street rippled and distorted like a reflection on water.

An actual barrier then.

Akira let his wrist go and slowed down. “Hey,” he said, looking at Keith. “Is that better? Try to focus on just one thing while you’re out there. Even if it’s something boring like how many hairs I have.” Keith raised a brow, even as he pat the top of his head to make sure his ears weren’t there still. He felt them through his hair, folding down against his head as he pushed. He frowned. “I don’t know. Something is better than _everything._ ”

Keith nodded, and with a last pat, his ears were gone. “Okay, yeah. Let’s get back out there and keep going; I’m good.”

“We’re going this way. Less people.” Akira said, pressing onward. “I’m starting to get tired using my powers so much without my orb…I never realized how much it effected us.”

Keith set his lips in a thin line. That wasn’t good.

“We should hurry up then. I’ll go in front, you just point?” he asked, jogging a little to catch up to his brother’s side.

He smiled. “Sure, if you want.”

* * *

The airport was an even more concentrated hub of noise and movement, with the addition of distracting, tasty smells.

Keith was glad to leave it as they climbed into their seats on the plane. It was cramped, sure, and there was a baby crying, but it was _less_  of everything, and he got to take a nap in peace, for the most part. If closing his eyes and trying not to think about the fact his brother was already getting weaker for not having his orb - and what was to be expected? They were _both_ young, inexperienced kitsune, even with their one hundred years as a ‘normal’ fox under their belts, and should have still been with their mother, learning more of their powers and its applications - or all the _other_ ways this whole thing could go bad.

Alaska? What did Keith know about _Alaska?_

Scratch that, what did he know about layovers, and _then_ what did he know about Alaska? Bears, the cold. Lots of snow and ice apparently, but also salmon in the summer. Dog sled racing- what was that one race? The I-something…Id- _Iditarod._

Was Anchorage the capital? He didn’t know.

He spent his time ‘napping’ trying to cast his powers out to gather more information. It would be the fall now, and the autumns there were generally brief, at least depending on where you were. Alaska was _huge,_ it could fit maybe a little over half the rest of the states in it alone, Texas included. Or something like that. Keith rubbed at his wrist, unhappy with the uncertainty of his findings.

No penguins but there were maybe puffins and definitely otters, and spruce trees rather than pine came to mind. Weird, but okay. That obviously bothered someone out there with intimate knowledge of Alaska. Part of Alaska, anyway.

It was definitely a ‘dog’ kind of state, with the wilderness and bears and the moose. Of course the Wolf would live there.

And of course they were going there.

Keith wouldn’t say he hated _Akira,_ but he hated that Akira got himself into this situation and that he had come along. Except both of them going together was better than either of them going alone, like…no, he wasn’t going to think of that.

Akira made small talk with the person sharing their row, albeit across the aisle, asking where they were going and if they knew anything about Alaska - _“the States”_ was their vague answer, and only that they were terribly under-dressed for Alaska. Keith figured they would continue their hunt in fox form anyway. It would be easier for them to access their foxfire like that, and thus they’d be able to defend themselves for the most part, since they would not be splitting their focus to maintain a human form, with the added bonus of fur for warmth. He still hoped they didn’t attract any attention, honestly - human, wolf, coyote, or otherwise. The less the better and _safer,_ and then they could go home sooner.

He knew better than to believe it would go so smoothly, but he was allowed to hope. Have a little faith.

By the time they landed at their first and only layover, because the nonstop international flight to Alaska had left already with the Wolf on it, and hand-waved IDs, passports, and money into existence to buy their plane tickets, Keith felt more tired than he had before; he was almost ready to spend their two hours waiting for their plane, napping, expect he was too anxious and restless too. Akira wanted to look around, but having been warned it was easy to get lost, zipped over to their next gate to wait instead. And talked to more people.

There weren’t too many humans waiting for this flight. Not a lot of people went to Alaska this time of year, he gathered. Or…less.

It was the school year, of course, so families and college students couldn’t go touring around as freely, and from what Keith had learned, the fishing industry was one of the driving tourist attractions. The salmon were out in the ocean now and wouldn’t start coming back until next May, if a little later than that. The natural beauty and wildlife were maybe the other attractions, but. Most people didn’t view the negative temperatures as being attractive.

His main sources of information on Alaska had referred to tourists as necessary pests, utter nuisances on the road in a season infamous for it’s terrible road work; lots of repairs from ice heaves. Which were worse in the temperamental winters when the snow and ice melted in the day rather than staying frozen, and then re-froze at night, doing a number on the paved roads especially. They all had been looking forward to the winter for the empty roads, filled potholes and cracks, and lack of people, which Keith could identify with except _cold._ Nuh-uh, why were they going there again- oh, right. Because Akira _gave a wolf his orb. A._ ** _Wolf._**

Still, Keith was too restless to actually find sleep - _ugh_ \- and too tired to scatter his powers very far to scavenge for more, and instead he just sat there uncomfortably, trying to pass the time however he could - without interacting with people, of course. That meant humans and, frankly, he didn’t share Akira’s fascination with them.

“Oh! Where in Alaska are you going? I’m from a small little town you wouldn’t find on most maps: Kasilof. It’s on the peninsula, near Kenai and Soldotna.”

Keith eyed the girl out of the corner of his eyes; she had long, curly brown hair and an olive complexion, her expression excited. There were crinkles around her eyes. She had a map out on her lap and Akira looked it over thoughtfully. From what Keith could see, his eyes were drawn to a particular spot more on the south side. “That sounds like the area we’re going to, actually.” he answered, pointing it out.

“You should see it in the summer - it’s so pretty. There’s _sooo_ many people, but it’s pretty. Not that snow’s not pretty, it’s just really dark all the time because of how far north we are, but hey- maybe you’ll get to see the northern lights. Those are really pretty.”

“Sounds like all of it is really pretty,” Akira said, smiling at her.

She chuckled. “Yeah, well. It is. Hey, do you and your brother have coats? Or…luggage at all?”

“Oh. Um…of course. It’s just not carry-on. I’m sure it’ll be loaded up soon, once the plane arrives..”

“Ah. I see. I hope it doesn’t get lost in transport. Or at the airport, but it’s kind of hard to get lost in the Anchorage airport after ones like Seattle’s.” She made hand gestures to accentuate her speech. “You’ll get to explore a little, which I think you two will like. We have these cool stuffed bears and other animals down the stairs. Or we did. There’s an eagle there and a bear, and there was an albino beaver. I think it was a beaver…”

Keith could hear surprise in his brother’s voice as he asked, “Alaska has beavers?”

“Somewhere, I guess,” she chuckled. “I’ve never seen them. Just some cranes and geese and some coyotes. Aside from the moose and bears. And caribou in the summer - they cross the marsh near the Kenai river, coming in from SBS.”

“‘SBS’?”

“Spenard Builder’s Supplies - it’s been there forever. But yeah, it’s out on the edge like…this.” More hand gestures. “So, I’m Kenai, okay. This is the bridge going over the river-” she drew a path of several inches between them, leaning back. “-and this is the road-” more distance, and she ducked her hand away from the straight line she was making, “-right here we have a pull out for tourists, so the road isn’t blocked. Then there’s this hill…slope…thing coming up to where you are. And on top of that is a light- you’re SBS, and turning right - left for you - takes you out towards Kasilof and left - right - goes towards Soldotna. You see?”

Akira nodded eagerly. “I think so. What about you, Keith?” he asked, twisting around to look at him.

Keith jumped in his seat, startled. He recovered quickly. “Oh, yeah. Makes sense.”

“I think you missed it, Keith, but this is Zoey. Zoey, this is Keith. She thinks it’s sweet we’re paying out friends a surprise visit. Maybe a little…ill-timed, but sweet.” Akira informed him.

“More than a little, but…you could have come in December.” Zoey waved at him. He waved back. “I wouldn’t ever suggest first-timers visit in the winter, but…”

Keith blinked at her. “I thought it was the Fall.”

Zoey rolled her head a little. “Weeeeeell,” she said, long and drawn out. “ _Technically._ But there’s snow on the ground according to my brother, so it’s winter. Say; you two weren’t going to drive down the pass were you?”

“No, we weren’t.” The answer was obviously a guess on Akira’s part, but it seemed to do just fine.

Zoey gave him an approving nod. “Good. That’s a long drive going seventy in the summer, and with all the ice and snow and threat of avalanches in the winter…not fun, especially if you’re not used to it. Were you going to get a cab when you got to the Kenai airport?”

Akira nodded. “Yeah.”

“Hm…well, they don’t charge lightly for going town to town, and my brother was going to pick me up from there; if you want we could take you to your friends?”

Keith wanted to bury his face in his hands; they didn’t know where the Wolf lived - they didn’t even know his name! _This_ was why he didn’t want to talk to people. Just mind his own business like normal people would.

“That’s very kind of you,” Akira said perfectly. “But I wouldn’t want to make you guys go out of your way.”

She waved her hand, “Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not sure you’d know him either…”

“This sounds like an ill-conceived plan.” Zoey pointed out, humming. “But try me. I grew up in the area and so did my daughters; if he did too, maybe we, or they, met in school. Our schools are quite…small.” _Daughters?_ Keith sized her up again. She looked quite young for a human with children old enough to warrent past-tense for schooling.

Keith sank in his seat and fixed his eyes on the far wall, feeling the desire to just…disappear. Or die- there was no way Akira was bullshitting his way out of this. They didn’t _know_ his na- “Sven and Ryou?”

 _What?!_ Keith snapped his head around to blink at Akira, but his brother wasn’t looking at him. His attention was on Zoey, of course.

Zoey jumped in surprise, eyebrows climbing towards her hairline. “You mean Holgersson and Shirogane? Wow. I remember when Sven was just a little boy. He had the most beautiful blue eyes from his mama. And Ryou is…well, he’s still a brat, but an endearing brat, don’t you agree?” she chuckled a little, and Akira chuckled along with her and gave a word of agreement. “Just…hold on. Let me text my brother if he still knows their address; I doubt my directions would be much help without it.”

“Really? That’s great. But…” Akira gave her another smile, and Keith tuned them out. As fascinating as Zoey’s excited rambling about her home was, Keith was tired and keeping up with her was taking more energy than he had. He stared around, instead.

There was a couple with a child, maybe eight years old. _So young,_ he thought. He was only a fox at that age - a fox who possessed the longevity that would enable to him to, perhaps, someday become a kitsune like his parents before him, if only he survived one hundred years and earned his powers. Eight years was less than a tenth of his life now.

And yet, he himself was quite young by kitsune standards. Just a fledgeling. Akira was just one, too, with only a few years, maybe a decade or two, on him.

He tried remembering his life from that time, but it was just a blur of hunting and foraging and scavenging and _surviving,_ then returning to wherever his den was for the time. It was rougher in the winters, but he stayed near Akira and together, they made it through, powers or not.

Akira had been curious about humans even then, even after _that,_ always getting too close and stealing their food when he could. _Typical._

His eyes roamed more.

An older couple, both men and leaning on each other, napped on the other side of the open sitting area. Their hands were intertwined and they wore wedding rings.

Keith envied them for their ability to sleep through this waiting period.

He continued. A woman tapped away on her phone, with earbuds in; Keith thought she was playing on of those ‘click a lot’ minigames humans liked to use to pass the time. He wished he had a phone to do the same with. Maybe then he could have focused on that and not noticed how the minutes seemed to drag on forever.

Teenage siblings read books, pressing their shoulders against one another. A simple sweep over with his powers, out of vague curiosity, revealed fraternal twins with separated parents. They were going to their grandmother’s to spend the rest of the school year, per an agreement reached by their parents to keep them together. Both stressed over whether it was permanent or if they would end up going two weeks on and two weeks off with either parent, or if they were going to lose any credits transferring like this.

Keith felt a twinge of sympathy; though he did not fully understand the situation, it seemed unfortunate. He would have liked to give them some good news, but he was too tired to dredge something up and it would be weird if he randomly, maybe even cryptically, told them something. He sunk down in his seat further, yawning.

He felt a shoulder bump into his, and looked over to see Akira smiling mischievously at him. It was rather ominous. “Maybe on our next flight you’ll take a _real_ nap.” Keith made a face at him. “ _Well,_ ” Akira said emphatically.

“Anyway, I think we’ll be boarding soon.” Akira nodded his head towards the podium and gate, where the captain had emerged from. First, they would call forward those who needed extra time getting down the ramp - people with mobility issues or young children, mostly. Then first class. And then the advanced seating, or whatever it was called when they got to go a little early to get settled before the others of the main cabin boarded. The main cabin would be last, going by zones; zone A, zone B, so on and so forth. Keith had been a little confused and anxious during the first waiting period, not quite sure how it was supposed to work for himself. His powers were useful on that front though. In retrospect, he regretted that he had used his powers the whole flight, reaching out far beyond those who were actually on the plane, just to find out more about Alaska, when Zoey was a font of information willing to be given. Keith nodded. “And,” Akira dragged the word out, “while you were spacing out, I learned more about where we’re headed from Zoey; I even got Sven’s address.”

Ah, yes. Right. Akira knew the Wolf’s name.

Keith leaned forward to peer around Akira to check if Zoey was paying attention; she wasn’t, with earbuds in and tapping away at her phone with a small smile. Satisfied that no one else was paying them any mind either, he turned his attention back to his brother and scooted closer to him. “ _How_ do you know the Wolf’s name? I thought you didn’t know him.”

Akira tilted his head and fiddled with his braid. “Well, when he shapeshifted into a human after snarling at Ol’ Grayfur and scaring him away from the orb, there was another wolf with him. And he turned human too - while the one who took-”

“You gave.” Keith interjected. Akira gave him a withering expression.

“-my orb was inspecting it, he said, ‘Sven, you should throw it back. What if that’s a kitsune’s orb?’ and Sven said, ‘You’re so superstitious, Ryou.’” Akira frowned at his braid, then let it go. Then he added, “And then they bickered a little bit about whether or not it was being superstitious to err on caution with foxes since they turned into wolves. After Sven threw it back. Because he didn’t intend to keep it, ‘don’t worry about it.’”

“Uh huh.” Keith narrowed his eyes, feeling skeptic. “And they just got to Grayfur before you and you just…watched.”

Akira rolled his eyes. “Yes, Keith, because I was really going to try snatching my orb from a wolf bigger than a lot of people. I mean, have you seen the size of wolves when they’re on two legs? That’s almost six feet!”

“Somehow, I think you were intrigued by the naked person more than scared of the wolf.” he deadpanned, turning to face forward even as his brother sputtered in indignation and protest. It was a line that could, would, and _had_ won him many arguments.

“I- you- that’s not at all- I can’t believe you would- _you’ve_ slept with humans before, too!” he hissed finally. Akira shook his head, looking back towards the podium; the attendant there was making announcements, calling zone A up to board now. They would be next, in zone B of the main cabin. “Unbelievable. My own brother.” Keith rolled his eyes as Akira continued dramatically, donning a dramatically hurt voice and expression, “Why does my kin forsake me like this? I have done _nothing-_ ”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You have an interesting definition of ‘nothing,’ but sure.”

“ _-nothing,_ ” he repeated, facing Keith again, “to deserve this betrayal. I am _devastated._ ”

Keith resisted to give his eyes another good roll, and instead leaned towards his brother’s face. “Well, maybe don’t go giving a human your orb out of ill-thought ‘curiosity’ when you really just think they’re attractive. That’s what your human form is for; getting with the humans.”

“It was-! You know what…I just wanted to know what he’d do when confronted with a kitsune orb a second time. I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t had reason to believe he would be there for a little longer yet, and I’d get it back…”

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, but didn’t get to say _“this is what happens when you think”_ for the attendant called forth zone B. He side-eyed his brother though, with narrowed eyes to let him know this conversation - and Keith’s _judging_ \- was not yet over. He wasn’t done.

They stood, and with nothing to grab headed towards the gate quickly to beat the rush. After they scanned their tickets and headed down the ramp, Akira sighed. “I know it was stupid, okay? It was dumb and when I get my orb back, I’m sewing it onto my skin. Or something. It’s never leaving my possession ever again.”

“ _Good._ ” Never mind that it shouldn’t have left his possession in the first place. But - _but_ \- Keith understood the whole _Ol’ Grayfur_ thing…that damn squirrel was always trying to steal their orbs and eat them, like it thought they were nuts or something. As rookie-ish as it was, it was bound to happen to someone eventually. He was just very sad it happened to Akira, and that he…

…maybe he should give Akira a break; it wasn’t like he never did stupid stuff too.

Usually in the form of reckless endangerment of himself - like the time he got caught in a fox trap trying to steal from a farm, and he had no one to blame for that but himself, even if he had been just a fox then. That had been terrible and Akira had wanted to strangle him, so to speak.

Once in their seats, Akira by the window and Keith in the middle, he nudged his brother’s arm with his elbow. Akira hummed in response, an invitation to say whatever it was he had to say. “Was the Wolf at least _cute?_ ”

Keith could see the grin that spread on his features. “Oh, yeah. The others were pretty cute too.”

“‘Others’ How many were there, exactly?” he asked grimacing a little. More than two wolves. Why.

Akira didn’t answer right away. Keith assumed he was thinking. “Well, in his room there were two others - that ‘Ryou’ and someone who looked a lot like him. And then in the kitchen area were another two, but they looked older. Their parents maybe; they were sweet.” Keith didn’t even get to open his mouth to incredulously demand what he meant by ‘sweet’ before he was elaborating. “I could hear this slow song playing, and they were dancing to it with big goofy smiles. It was sweet.”

_You have a big goofy smile._

Keith stayed quiet for a moment. Suddenly, he had a suspicion that made Akira giving away his orb make more sense, he thought. But he didn’t like it; it didn’t seem like something _Akira_ would do. It seemed underhanded - and not that they were above being underhanded, because they weren’t, for the most part really, but it just…it didn’t quite make sense, _but._ “Akira…if you wanted to travel and partake in human society, you didn’t need to lose your orb to do that…”

He sighed heavily though it was more of an unhappy and conflicted sound than resignation, confirming his doubts in the best way. Akira shifted in his seat until he was angled to face the window less than before, and more towards Keith. It was a deliberate action to open himself up and show himself to be more genuine than closed off. “I didn’t- look, this is never how I would go about it, you know that…well, I mean. Hopefully you do? I wouldn’t want to leave you behind, but I’d _never_ trick you into leaving either; you’re my only family, Keith.” There was a quiet, but brief pause. “I wasn’t even sure if I _really_ wanted to go. But- I _am_ sorry that this _has_ happened. We’ll go home after this, I promise.”

Akira hadn’t wanted to leave him behind when they both little _or_ even after becoming a Kitsune, either. Keith remembered him always staying. Always. Even when Keith should have died after his run in with the fox trap - not only had Akira donned a human form to get him out, but he’d healed him and nursed him back to health; hunted and foraged for him, and protected the den. He would even take Keith, still in fox form, with him to mingle with people, pretending Keith was his pet; of course, Keith had also kind of bitten him the first several times he had tried to go, which had _kind of_ forced Akira to take him with as a… _compromise,_ of sorts.

They lapsed into quiet while the last stragglers for zone C got settled in, and some passengers swapped seats to better stay with their friends or family, and Keith thought of dark ebony hair with reddish ears tipped black poking through the strands, perked and swiveling, and a round, smiling face with maroon colored eyes framed by healthy, glowing skin. Fingers gently rubbing his head between his own ears and melting under the touch. Nipping at hands when he wanted to play, or he was hungry, or he wanted cuddles. During cuddles, curling into a ball with one more furred body in the den and three tails wrapped around them. A coarse but not quite rough tongue licking through his fur to correct and clean it - gentle hands rubbing soap into his fur and pouring water over his cherry red coat to wash away the suds, a low, soothing hum to calm his squirming.

He knew why Akira was so interested in humans and why he’d want to travel, and he believed him when he said this wasn’t what he’d meant to happen - maybe he hadn’t really meant _anything_. Akira wouldn’t be underhanded like that, not for something like this.

It wasn’t until the plane was well into motion that Keith finally responded. “I believe you, and it’s okay. We don’t have to go home right away.”

Akira smiled a little, and Keith returned it.

It looked a lot like a smile he hadn’t seen in decades.

* * *

Keith napped for a while, leaning on Akira’s shoulder. It was difficult to get comfortable enough while sitting upright to actually fall asleep, but Akira hummed in a pattern that was familiar to Keith, sounding a lot like the familial gekkering they did to each other before their powers. Just. Not as gekkering as before. It was hard to gekker as a human. And they normally didn’t do it a lot anyway.

It was enough to lull him over the cusp of and into unconsciousness.

When he awoke, it was because Akira was shaking him awake, urging in a hushed voice. “Keith. _Keith,_ wake up. You’ll want to see this…”

“Hmmg…” he complained, rubbing his face and patting the top of his head. No ears, no whiskers. _Good,_ he thought. _I stayed human._

And then Akira was nudging him again, like an impatient child. “Keith! It’s so pretty! Look!”

“Alright, alright. Okay.” He let his brother pull him towards the window, and that was the first sight of Alaska he saw for himself. Distant rocky islands that looked blue - distinct from the ocean - and then it was tall, mighty mountains covered in snow. Wetlands and lakes, expanses of brown grass half-covered in pure white snow that glittered in the sunlight, and forests of green dotted with brown broadleaf trees bare of leaves - or maybe their leaves were brown now. He couldn’t tell from how high up. The sun itself hung at a lower position, almost awkward to him, compared to at home. It was still quite bright, and obviously day time, but it seemed to favor one half - the south half, of course - of the sky, noticeable in just the time he and Akira had stared at the varied landscape below. He could only imagine what it would look like in the summer, with the grass and leaves alive and green, and wildflowers in bloom.

And finally, after thirty minutes or so, they looped around north and then south to Anchorage. It was quite small even though it covered the expanse of land between the mountains and the ocean, and almost seemed to glimmer in a small city kind of way. According to Zoey, Anchorage was the largest city in Alaska, but compared to most cities in the ‘lower forty-eight’ - what could only be a reference to all the connected, grouped together states - it was rather on the small size. Medium at _most,_ and that was pushing it. The next largest city was Fairbanks, but it was undoubtedly _small._ Neither of them were even the capital, either.

There were no skyscrapers - okay, maybe the _one_ that he could see possibly qualifying, as they began their descent - and the residential - he thought it was a residential? - districts and neighborhoods wound up into the mountains. Not so far up as to reach the end of the treeline, not by far; not even half-way up the mountains. And then, there were obvious docks by the ocean - but that was to be expected of a state that’s other primary industry and source of income was fishing, to go along with tourism.

They kept watching out the window until they couldn’t see anything new, ignoring the popping of their ears and people around them preparing to depart, impatient to get off the plane after hours nonstop.

“Akira,” he said in a hushed voice. “We have to visit in the summer.”

“Oh, for sure,” he answered automatically. “But for now, I think we’re going to have to settle for getting intimate with this winter.” Keith snorted at the word choice, and sat back in his seat to wait their turn to disembark. “…I may have lied to Zoey about not going through the pass. I didn’t think about it at all when I got our tickets…”

Keith shrugged. “We have fur, and it’ll be nice to stretch our legs.” He doubted Akira even knew the pass would be an issue, because he, himself, certainly hadn’t. Whatever though, Zoey said it was mostly an issue in the winter for _inexperienced drivers._ They weren’t driving, and they certainly weren’t inexperienced with travel; they would just stay as clear from the road as they could, if they could, in case of an inexperienced driver and traveler daring the pass from the peninsula to Anchorage.

If they hadn’t been in a rush from the fact Akira could - and _would -_ die without his orb, they would have taken time to do more research. Or any research, Zoey not counted. They would have figured it out _anyway._ Someone would have pointed them in the right direction.

“Yeah, it will.” Akira agreed.

They got off the plane quickly after that, and made their way out of the airport. In a twist of fate they had expected, it was cold out; what was surprising was the lack of snow _on_ the sidewalk and roads, but that was okay. They could ward off the cold a little better without snow to melt - at least if they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves, which they didn’t. No thanks. But only a little; it was still enough that he felt himself shivering in response.

Keith stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked anyway, breath fogging in the air around him, and walked quickly. The sooner he could ditch human form and get back to having fur, the happier and warmer he’d be. Akira laughed a couple times, at first, and made sure to keep up so he could point them in the right direction - _thank you, orb trail._ By the end of their first half hour of walking and not reaching the city limits yet, he wasn’t laughing. Rather, he was muttering under his breath and had his arms crossed, a subtle way to try and channel more energy into keeping himself from feeling the cold. Just taking a glance at him, Keith could see his cheeks were turning pink from the nipping cold, and he was willing to bet they were starting to feel numb the same way his own were. “I don’t like this.” he declared.

“As if I couldn’t tell by your pout,” Akira answered. “Let’s hurry up, the trail is starting to fade and that’s our beacon out of this city.”

“I’m not pouting…”

“Are so.”

“Am _not._ I don’t pout.”

“Oh, yes you do. Don’t lie, Keith.”

“I-”

“If I get called out on thinking a person’s attractive, you get called out on being the _poutiest_ fox.” Akira smirked at him in that _I win_ type of way, and Keith huffed at him. _Whatever._ He didn’t pout and he stood by that. His brother could believe whatever made him feel better.

He skipped ahead a few steps, glowering at Akira in spirit at least. Akira caught up quickly anyways.

* * *

By the time they got out of the city, Keith decided he’d had quite enough of being human.

He didn’t even bother to undress, just launched himself into the air and felt his body change back to the way it naturally was. Four petite legs and four paws, a fluffy tail for balance, and large swiveling ears. He stared down his muzzle, relieved by the familiar dark red fur. With his coat poofed out, each hair standing nearly on-end, the cold air had difficulties penetrating through.

He expected Akira to make a comment about him being impatient, but instead he heard a _thud_ in the snow next to him, and poked his head out from under his stolen coat to see his brother wriggling under his own clothes. Merely a squirming mound under the fabric.

Keith crawled out from in his shirt and shook himself off.

 _“Are we taking the clothes?”_ he asked, scrunching his muzzle at the items. He kicked the jacket with his front paw.

Akira finally backed out from his clothes, fur pushed in all different directions. He answered only after dropping to the ground and sliding forward on the clothes to correct his fur. Keith would judge, but it bothered him to no end, too, when his fur was out of alignment. It was just…so _wrong_. Nothing was right in the world when his fur was messed up. _“We will likely need them again…but no. They’ll just slow us down more than we can afford.”_

Keith sunk his fangs into the jacket and shirt, and dragged them, backwards, through the snow; they should hide the clothes away for when they’d need them again, coming back through Anchorage. Akira started to do the same, evidently with the same train of thought. It took a few trips to get all articles of clothing, and then for Keith to seal them with a smack of his tail, crackling energy dispersing over the fabric to deter weathering. They’d need them again, after all.

And then, they were off.

It felt good to feel so light and to feel the cold snow and wet, dead and brown leaves, on his bare paws. The pads of his feet could handle it though. Maybe they would get a little numb from the cold, but it’d be tolerable.

Being human and cold was just…miserable. He couldn’t stand it.

The first stretch they passed was lined by rocky slopes and cliffs, bearing orange rust stains streaking down the surface where water must have poured, trickled down; Keith spared a little of his omniscience to bring forth an image of it in warmer temperatures - a little girl sitting in her car seat, staring out the window to count each little waterfall happily. Her brothers bickered on either side of her, as different as night and day, and her mama helped her keep count from the passenger seat while her other mother drove. She pointed them each out with an excited squeal, and her passenger-side brother pressed as far back into the seat as he could to avoid her jabbing finger.

He shook it off, and kept going.

On the other side of them, on their right, was steep slopes leading down to the water. The ground in that direction smelled - faintly to him, because of the snow covering it now, and thus muting the scent - of rotting fish and wet, decaying grass. Mostly gross grass, honestly. He bet it was absolutely repugnant in the spring.

Good thing passing through here, people were in cars, huh?

The only path for them to follow was alongside the road. It made them uneasy to be so near it as foxes, but it should’ve been relatively empty if Zoey was to be believed about people avoiding going to or south from Anchorage once snow fell and the roads got icy.

Even once they’d reached where the cliffs and mountain base - _bases_ \- tapered and turned away from the road, there was no where else for them to go but the winding pavement. No other paths to take, not unless they wanted to cross frozen streams and rivers and climb more sharp slopes, down and then up, to avoid the bridges they were soon to come up on. They stood out painfully in the fields of white, a splotch of red and orange to contrast with the white, gray, black, and brown color palette of the wilderness. Trees became more common as they continued, at first mostly in clusters of short, thin spruce - Keith _remembered_ the annoyed _“they’re spruce, not pine”_ that he had heard from some random person’s thoughts - trees that could have only been saplings. Some were a bit bigger, at least years older, noticeably bigger than many others in their clusters. They had branches stripped bare, and more than once Keith and Akira startled a grazing moose with a calf or two or otherwise large, velvety antlers that were falling off and peeling, and hadn’t heard them coming. He was more surprised by how big they were and how fluffy their babies were, and that they had fuzzy antlers, than by their ‘sudden’ appearance. And man, they were big.

Scratch that- _giant._ They were _giant_ compared to Keith’s little over a foot tall height. Bigger than most cars and utterly dwarfing him. He was pretty sure one could step on him once without really trying and kill him.

But. Big. Big and brown and completely unfazed by them, staring unimpressed down at them with large black eyes, like they were mere nuisances and not beings with magical powers.

How come Alaskans hadn’t tried to domesticate them like horses? He bet it was habitat. Or trying to ride them.

One of the two, probably. But they were big _enough_ for it and conveniently adapted to weather of Alaska.

The bull they came across glared at them, until Akira gekkered at him inquisitively. And then he ran away. Which was…okay: unexpected, shocking. One might even say it was in some way and manner, amusing. The mama moose them by unharmed, even if her stare was mistrusting.

Following the winding road, they crossed paths, metaphorically, with only a few cars blitzing down the highway ten or fifteen miles over the speed limit, humans were insane or something he decided. Their tires _click-clacked_ on the pavement in a way he had only heard in Anchorage. Of course, maybe that was just the ice? Keith had always insisted on staying well far away from humans in the winter. Fox hunting was very off-putting; Keith liked living. A lot.

Bad enough he’d had to escape a huntsman by shapeshifting into his human form, once and be saved by Akira on another occasion. A few hunting seasons over their last hundred years - some of the more recent ones, in fact - had been spent in Zao Fox Village, where they were cared for and viewed by humans, and met a surprising amount of other kitsune - a whole community. They always moved on in the spring. The interactions with humans there weren’t the kind Akira craved, and Keith couldn’t stand staying there for too long.

They skirted around the gas station as well as they could, and once they passed over that bridge, it was to the woods. From there, they could, thankfully, deviate from the road more. Less chance of drawing attention, though Keith was certain the passengers of the cars all but flying past them had seen them anyway, and at least a couple of people who’d been outside while they were trying to give the hub of a surprising amount of activity a birth, the gas station, a berth had seen them too. Oh well, there hadn’t been much of anything they could have done. Maybe they could have gotten another set of plane tickets for Kenai like Akira had told Zoey they were going to - less about the ‘getting’ and more about the ‘flying’ - but Keith would have certainly started banging his head against a wall and losing pieces of his transformation if he had to sit through another flight no matter how long. His ears would have been first to sprout, and then his tail.

The two of them would do better with the clutter that the tree trunks and spruce trees brought, to stay out of sight, white snow and red fur or not.

* * *

It took the rest of the whole day and then some to edge around the towns, Alyeska and Portage and, finally, Cooper Landing, along the pass, all most certainly with dogs and people, to exit the mountains that had stood tall and larger than life on both sides of them, as mountain passes were prone to doing. The former two were quite a bit easier to avoid than the latter.

They were greeted with a long stretch of highway surrounded by expanses of snow dotted with, and then off in the distance - framed by - spruce trees - and some deciduous but he wasn’t familiar enough with those in North America to even begin trying to figure out what, exactly, they were, especially not by just their trunks and bark alone. He assumed it was some more ‘wetland.’

Keith eyed Akira closely in the dim light - the sun had set within only a couple of hours of them arriving, though it had only been in middle of the sky, at the peak of its arc when they flew in, and it had been so long that it was starting to rise again.

It had been an undeniably long day, so much had happened during it, and Keith knew his brother hadn’t caught a nap once during either of their flights or during their single layover. To add to it, they also had just traveled nonstop through the pass going a whopping average of five miles per hour for roughly twenty or so hours, give or take a few. He wasn’t sure exactly. Worse still,, Akira was getting weaker without his orb. He had to be tired all the way to the bone, utterly exhausted.

Keith, himself, was tired, and _he_ had gotten a nap.

But it’d been most of, if not a whole, day since then. Of course he was tired, that just made sense.

What didn’t make sense was Akira plodding along forward as if fatigue could not touch him. Not when Keith knew it most certainly could from seeing it in the past.

 _“Keep up, Keith.”_ he heard Akira say. _“We’re not stopping until we get there.”_

 _“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”_ he asked, worry flaring. _“What if we get there and they’re not friendly? We’ll be too tired to-”_

 _“We’ll be fine. Come on,”_ Akira’s voice took on a stubborn tone.

Keith stared at him, cocking his head a little in confusion. His ears angled backwards, but didn’t quite lay flat against his head. Pushing hard like this wasn’t like Akira at all; he was usually so, so careful when it came to how much he exerted himself and always urging Keith not to stay out so late playing and exploring, hunting in the winter often times. That sleep and rest were important and shouldn’t be neglected irregardless, it wasn’t worth it.

This was going to end in disaster, he just knew it. He _knew_ it. It was with a sinking feeling in his gut and an ominous weight pressing down on him, that he trotted after Akira. There was no use arguing when either of them were set on something, willfulness ran in the family.

Keith only hoped they didn’t encounter any hunters or trappers. They’d most likely die with the state of things right now - tired, losing powers, and in unfamiliar territory.

From Cooper Landing to Sterling, it was thirty four miles.

Continuing to go at their steady five miles per hour trot would have taken them close to seven hours to make the trip; thankfully, and due in no small part because Keith suggested they speed up, they tripled their pace and cut the time it took to get there - the way he saw it, walking took as much energy as running, but it was time that would really get them. If they lingered, they were more likely to get caught while vulnerable. If they just got there and they did it fast, maybe they’d be able to rest safely then, in a tree or something knowing that Akira was under no threat of dying because of time. He probably still had a few days yet, far from critical condition - but his powers were already taking more energy from him than they should have and that scared Keith. Akira agreed and set a pace faster than Keith had been expecting when he brought it up.

He knew Akira said he was never, ever letting his orb go again, but still, Keith hoped a lesson had been learned here. And not just by Akira; and that lesson was ‘why to not do things without fully thinking out possible outcomes and consequences. Vicarious learning was important.

It was valuable and would maybe curb Keith’s own impulsive habits.

But.

 _But_ that was their mistake.

Just blitzing through as quickly - well, not quite _as quickly,_ that would have been closer to only an hour of travel, but the wind from that speed would have surely left his legs numb and his small body shivering - as they could meant they weren’t quite being as quiet and as invisible as they could, and _should,_ have been. Nor were they nearly as alert as would have been preferable - but being worn out, in general, didn’t help.

The first warning they got was a shrill howl all too close, and then the crunch of snow to their left, across the vacant road and somewhat into the treeline; it wasn’t too far from the road now. Their ears swivelled immediately in the direction.

Another howl followed and the sound of thundering footfalls. A few of them, three or four with four paws each, and rapidly weaving out of the trees and charging for them.

Keith turned his head towards them; he was expecting the snarls and barks, and the bared teeth, but he was expecting them on wolves.

Not something smaller and considerably faster than them: coyotes. _Oh shit,_ he thought. _“Akira!”_

 _“I see them! Into the trees! Maybe we’ll be able to lose them!”_ he called back, veering to the right hard. Keith followed, picking up the pace with his paws racing over the snow as lightly as he could; it’d do him no good to sink into the snow and have to struggle against that too. With adrenaline starting to course, it was easier to overcome being tired even before this, but there’d be no helping him if he got burned out trying to escape coyotes _and_ the snow.

 _Think._ He still had foxfire available, probably enough to scare them awa-

Keith heard a sharp, ear-hurting bark behind him, and disregarded thinking; he jumped, twisting in the air,and brought his black paw down on the muzzle of the coyote with the beginnings of a crackling, electrified flame - but it was only slight, and shocked the coyote into screeching to a stop, shaking its head to get rid of a tingly, stinging, and burning feeling. He kept running hard, heart pounding like a drum, and turned an ear towards the second coyote that had rushed by its packmate.

This was bad. This was very bad, very, very, _very_ bad. The opposite of good.

He didn’t know where Akira was, couldn’t take his attention away from his pursuers or the ground in front of him to listen for him either, that could spell death by getting ripped apart by sharp canines and vicious snarls. Blood in the snow and scraps of fur as the only proof he’d been there, everything else eaten. Well, maybe not his stomach but he hadn’t eaten anything lately, especially not grass or any-

Keith turned around a tree and lept through two narrow trunks into a cluster of closely grouped trees, all with the same skinny trunks with no room to grow because it their neighbors. He didn’t dare stop running, there was a faintly visible, trodden path here with only the faintest of snow making its way down, and there was bound to be a gap somewhere leading in - and if not, well, he was trapping himself in there anyway if he lingered, they’d decide he was easy prey and corner him there. Maybe he could out wait them, but he hadn’t eaten since they left Japan, he was _tired,_ and he doubted they’d be patient enough to not burst through the trees, scrabble and push at them until the thin trunks snapped under the force, and overwhelm him.

He kept pushing forward, dodging said trunks and spilling out of the trees.

He needed somewhere safe and undoubtedly out of the coyotes’ rea-

Hot breath poured over his ear, and he jerked, laying it as flat against his head as he could just as yellowed fangs snapped where it had been less than a heartbeat ago, yet another harsh sound. _Oh heavens oh heavens oh heavens._

 _Tree!_ his mind screamed at him. He swerved to the left, but not soon enough. It glanced him on the shoulder, and then the coyote was towering over him. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck!_

A ball of red fur flew through the air, landing on the coyote’s face. Keith saw blood spray in the air, and then small, sharp teeth were biting into his scruff and dragging him forward and onto his feet; Akira! Relief washed over him, but- no, it was too early to be feeling relief. _Just run!_ His instincts begged.

Keith did. He kept his eyes glued ahead, ears against his head but tuned into the pounding around them, the crunching of snow, and the snarls and barks.

He made sure to avoid the trees, leaping and sliding and twisting to avoid another impact and trip.

 _“Climb that tree!”_ Akira called. Keith saw the one he was referring to, one with a large trunk and sturdy branches, a barren broadleaf, and he didn’t think. He just sprinted for it with a burst of speed from twenty miles to his glorious thirty, and took a flying leap at it. His claws sunk in deep, and he managed to scramble up onto a branch above him and cling there.

Keith turned his head, chest heaving, to look for Akira’s red fur on the tree near him.

He did not find it.

Panicking, he tossed his head about-   _there._

Akira hadn’t made it to the tree, and Keith wasn’t sure why, but he was far to his left, on the ground and cornered. Keith froze, every muscle pulling taught with horror. The snow above him may as well have begun to melt along his back in a thick, constant trickle-trail for the cold feeling that crept down his spine, and an icy hand gripped his heart.

_No no no no NO!_

_Move!_

His claws only sunk in deeper, throat feeling tight and eyes burning, he let out a low whimper. His vision started to blur and water.

Blood- fur scrap- limp body.

Golden and red leaves strewn about carelessly around the body of red fur, dried and stained by the blood that had spilled from the round wound- the bite mark- the bullet hole and-

He pressed himself against the dirt - the branch’s smooth bark - and closed his eyes tight. He could feel the cold bite at leaked fluid on his cheeks, and couldn’t help the shake that racked his body.

_No no no! Move!_

_Akira!_

He was _paralyzed._ He couldn’t- he needed to- _he couldn’t-_

Keith couldn’t watch. He needed to do _something,_ fling a ball of foxfire, save Akira. _What’s wrong with me!?_ He couldn’t listen to this happen, he had to move he had to do _something._

He heard a yelp, loud and sharp and followed by a thud and crunching snow, a loud, distinct bark and growl, but he couldn’t lift his head to look.

 _Akira. Akira was going to_ ** _die._** Hadn’t he come here to save him?

There was lots of scrambling and scuffling in the snow below, more sounds of gnashing teeth and yelps, and he could smell blood - _Akira…_ \- and then a pitiful whimper. And then running, lots of running, back in the direction, he thought, that they had come racing from. _Look up look up look up. Do_ ** _something, anything._**

He managed to, shaking hard,  to see light gray fur. Hovering over where Akira had been cornered. The coyote was far, far larger than any he’d seen chasing them, the wrong color too - more of what he’d expect from a wolf - and drops of blood and brown scraps of fur were scattered about the messed up snow, trodden by so many paws. The coyote just stood there for a moment, staring down, and then, slowly, the fur started to press closer to its body and it seemed to sit back-

It was numbly that he registered that he was looking at a wolf, a wolf like _the_ Wolf, and maybe him, Keith didn’t know. He still couldn’t move.

_…Akira…_

They - he? - had tawny brown skin and short, dark brown hair. He - _they_ \- were completely nude and exposed to the cold autumn-winter air, and shivered. “Ah…dammit, that rabbit was for stew tomorrow…” he complained, before looking towards the ground. He bent down and Keith thought he saw him pick something up - _body, limp and stained_ \- and turned towards his tree. The back of Keith’s mind unhelpfully added: _Japanese. He’s japanese,_ but he was more focused on the bundle in his arms.

 _Akira._ His chest was rising and falling, and his violet eyes were blown wide open with fear. “Now…I can only _wonder,_ ” the wolf said, rolling his eyes - they were grey - and adopting a sarcastic tone, “what two _obviously Japanese_ foxes are doing here, in Alaska. Truly, I have no _clue_ what could cause them to come here or how.” He approached the tree, scrunching his nose. Pointedly, he said upwards, “Smelling of fear will only attract predators, you know. And there _are_ birds big enough to eat you.” Transferring Akira to the crook of his left arm, he reached up towards Keith. “Come here.”

Keith just stared at him, and shivered. His claws dug deeper into the branch.

He frowned and his sarcastic attitude turned annoyed. “ _Dude,_ I don’t know if you fucking noticed, but it’s six degrees and I don’t have clothes _or_ fur right now. Get the fuck down so we can _go._ ” To emphasize his point, he gestured westward. “My house is twelve miles that way and that’s twelve miles we might get harassed by coyotes, longer if you just sit up there smelling like easy prey.”

His paws gripped the bark harder, trying to force his claws to slide in deeper.

The wolf sighed and ran his empty hand through his hair impatiently. “You know _what,_ I’d prefer not to get hypothermia, so suit your damn self, pal. I’m taking this one home. Stay there. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

In a quick, twirling movement, he was back on all fours with Akira’s scruff in his maw - Keith shrieked a little, leaning towards them, but then snow was getting kicked up in clouds and clumps as the wolf raced away with his brother in his jaws. He shook harder, finally managing to move at all - just to scoot closer to the trunk. Distantly, he heard a coyote howl, a distinctly shrill sound; he didn’t dare climb down.

He just stared with wide and terrified eyes where the light gray wolf had disappeared through the trees and whimpered and shook to himself.

_Alone._

_You’re alone._

Keith closed his eyes and rubbed his face against the branch; he was crying and he hated it. Akira was alive. _Was._ Would he stay that way? Keith didn’t know.

He didn’t know.

His only family and he’d stayed paralyzed while he almost got torn apart by a pack of coyotes, while he got carried away by a wolf who turned into a human with no guarantees that he wouldn’t be killed by him either. _What’s wrong with me?_

Keith wasn’t sure how long he stayed fixed right there. The wolf said stay, and he was tired, adrenaline leaving him in no condition to even try outrunning the coyotes if they came back, so he’d stay and hope he came back to get him. Or something. It was hard to keep his body tense, to keep himself from drifting into sleep now that he was out of motion, but he forced himself to. He wasn’t sleeping until he was safe and Akira’s body was curled up next to his, like when they were in their burrow den back home.

Eventually, he heard the snow crunching again. It wasn’t too far away, and he could only hear two feet. He perked up a little, wondering if the new wolf had come back in his human form; maybe he had a nice, warm car.

“Hello?” a feminine, accented, voice called out. The owner came into view quickly; a rather short, similarly tawny skinned woman with a heart-shaped face and hair cut into an A. She wore a lavender winter jacket with gray, fuzzy leggings and purple snow boots and a gray, purple, and pink winter hat; over her shoulder was a rifle. She noticed the signs of scuffle first, and quickly scanned the trees; when they made eye-contact, it felt like he’d been punched in the gut as a human. They were warm brown, with slight circles and wrinkles at the corner - but they were kind and worried.

She looked like a person who could hug him and he’d feel safe enough to cry his eyes out.

“Ah,” she said, “There you are. Don’t worry, the rifle is for coyotes. Just in case.” She smiled at him. “My boys are all worriers more than they are warriors.” Chuckling, she shook her head. “Do you mind if I speak a little Japanese, Keith? Your brother said it might help soothe you; and you look so scared and lonely right now.” He didn’t respond, just stared at her. That must have conveyed something though, because she told him, “ _Hajimemashite. Watashi no namae wa Hana desu._ ”

 _Hana._ That was a nice name. She certainly looked like a beautiful flower to him right now. Hana grinned and her eyes twinkled; he must have done…something.

A sunflower, maybe.

“Will you come down now, please? You can jump into my arms if you like.”

He nodded his head, and forced his stiff muscles to move. His legs felt shaky under his weight, and his jump was clumsy, but Hana caught him against her chest and wrapped her arms around him. “Very good. Now, we’re going to go back to my car. I brought some clothes with me, in case you wanted to change forms. They’re my sons’ old clothes, but they fit Akira.” His ears perked up, swiveling. She rubbed between them, cradling him with just her left arm. “And I also brought some hot chocolate and dinner to help warm you up.” He twisted to stare up at her. “The food was my husband’s suggestion. He thought you might be hungry.” He flicked an ear. She seemed to understand his silent question, or perceived one. Keith wasn’t really sure; he knew he was exhausted and sore and ready to just die, but not, and that Hana reminded him of someone special to him. He liked her. “My husband’s name is Akihiro. He’s a werewolf, as are our three sons, Sven, Takashi, and Ryou. He’s sweet and caring and my boys are all thoughtful, if a little impetuous -  we all decided it’d be better if I came to get you.”

Her boots crunching in the snow was rhythmic, and she ducked under branches and slipped sideways between tree trunks with ease of practice.

“You actually just met Ryou. He’s the one who saved your brother from the coyotes; it’s been an early winter, so they’re a little more desperate than usual. I’m surprised they didn’t go after a rabbit instead, but.” Hana shrugged vaguely. Keith felt them go down a slope, and then quickly back up. She slipped a little, coming out of the ditch, but didn’t so much as mutter to herself. “Here we are, sweetie. Let me put you in the passenger seat, and then you can worry about getting dressed or not.”

She dug into her coat pocket for her keys and pressed a quick button to unlock the doors, then climbed inside the driver’s seat. True to her word, she set him down in the passenger’s seat, and then pulled shut her door and locked the car. After putting her rifle in the back seat, carefully, she stared at him, and he stared at her.

And then he realized she was waiting for him to respond.

 _“Hot chocolate sounds nice,”_ he confessed. _And food._

Hana smiled at him. “It’s in this thermos.” she pointed to the cupholder before twisting in her seat to grab a backpack from the backseat. While she did that, he focused on transforming. With a shimmer of light, he found himself sitting naked in the seat. “Boxers,” she said, tossing them at him. He eyed them suspiciously, but lifted his legs awkwardly to slide them on. Hana kept her gaze effortlessly fixed on his face while holding out pants. They were black leggings with fleece lining. “Sometimes I think my sons originally bought these just to make the joke ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing,’ but leggings grew on them.” He accepted them too, and the short-sleeve shirt she gave him, the crew socks, red winter boots and jacket, and the orange fox hat. He was grateful for the layers, even if they didn’t quite fit perfectly. Even more grateful to get his hands on the hot chocolate and take a long drink.

And by long drink, he meant ‘attempt to gulp it all down in one go.’ “You’ll upset your stomach like that,” Hana warned, so he put it back in its cupholder. He’d rather not have a stomach-ache on top of his soreness. “Put your seatbelt on and I’ll hand you the food; we made moose burger with rice roni and corn tonight.”

Keith complied, and quickly was handed a tupperware bowl with a red lid. Hana hummed a little. “Your choice of fork or chopsticks. There’s a pair in the glove box if you want them.” He popped open the lid and stared at the carefully separated food within, stomach growling, and shrugged.

The fork would do fine.

Fine to shovel all of this food into his mouth. He was _starving._

As soon as he started eating, starting with the moose - it tasted weird, with a distinctly different flavor than what he was used to, but he didn’t dislike it, at least not enough, to dissuade him from eating - Hana flicked on her blinker and shifted into drive, and pulled a U turn. She turned the radio on quietly, to a station that was cheerily saying _“you’re listening to 96.5”_ at the moment and drummed her thumbs on her steering wheel to no particular beat that he was aware of. He didn’t think hard about it, either. There was food in his hand and he intended to scarf it down. Everything else came second now that he was safe, and felt it. A moose could still charge across the road in front of the car or _into_ it, but that actually wasn’t high up on his list of concerns.

Keith ignored the passing landscape, the trees and ditches and everything else, in favor of focusing in on his food and pushing his tiredness away again, just for a little bit longer at least.

The drive was quick, only fifteen or twenty minutes, maybe a bit longer for the slower speed she adopted going down her road, but it was pleasant. It was _heavenly_ after the disaster Keith had just lived through, and there was food. _Free_ food. As she pulled up into her driveway, he got a look at her house. It was nice, really nice - not necessarily fancy, but nice. Two story with pale blue paint and a black rubber layer over their slanted roof, which was surprisingly not covered in snow - it looked like it’d been shoveled off, maybe? There was a chimney, and a firewood storage just on the side of the house, around the corner, but no smoke. For emergencies then, he guessed. She pulled into the garage and turned off the car. “You’ll get a chance to look around later,” she promised. Keith nodded and waited for her to get out before he did. “Your brother is very worried about you. We don’t know what happened out there, or how you two came to be overrun by coyotes, but I know he blames himself. We already talked with him a little before I left, and you two will be staying in our guest room tonight -as long as you need. If you need anything, just let me or any of the boys know. We’d be happy to help, especially since we’re the reason you two came here at all…”

Keith nodded again. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

She smiled and reached up to push his hair back and rub his scalp a little, just at the base of his ear-

He turned red, face hot. “Oh, oops, I can-”

“They’re cute and very you. Don’t worry about it. My youngest is dating a nereid and I live with a pack of werewolves. I can handle fox ears.” she told him with an even bigger smile.

He couldn’t help but grin back at her.

Hana opened her car door and stepped out. “Ryou has a cat and Takashi has a Shiba-rottie but she’s a big sweetie, and she’s out on her chain right now.”

Shiba-rottie.

 _Dog._ his brain supplied, but it was dull and lacking the same sense of urgency as before.

He was in a house with werewolves - werewolves - and he’d almost been eaten by coyotes an hour or so ago, and his brain wanted to be concerned by a dog? What were his priorities?

Askew. They were askew because he was tired and needed to sleep. It was a miracle he was able to walk by himself. His limbs felt like the bones had been replaced with bars made of lead.

He yawned as he climbed out the car, the empty food container and half-full thermos of hot chocolate in hand and stretching his arm up and across his face to cover his mouth, and then he followed he up the couple short steps leading inside.

It was nice in there too, with a couple large TVs in the living room and a comfortable, appealing looking couch and a couple of chairs, a nice dining to table off to his right with a bench along the wall and four other chairs; his gaze locked onto Akira immediately, forgetting everything else - he barely noticed ‘the boys’ sitting at the table eating too. His brother looked worn and guilty, but utterly relieved at the sight - and sound, judging by his perked ears - of him and stood up with a deep, light sigh. “Keith! You’re okay!” he dropped the stag-and-landscape fuzzy blanket that had been wrapped around his shoulders and launched himself at Keith; if not for being hugged tightly in his arms, he probably would have been taken off his feet. “I’m so sorry.” Akira murmured. “I’m so sorry. I’ve just- I think I’ve been stupid lately and you almost died, and I almost died, and…heavens this has not been my decision-making week. At all.”

From behind him, he heard Hana whisper, “I’ll take those for you,” and then his hands were free from the tupperware bowl and thermos to hug Akira back tightly.

“I should apologize too,” one of the wolves said. He stood, pale white skin, in contrast to his family’s skin tone, and black hair. “I’m Sven, the one who took your brother’s orb - I meant to leave it at the cabin, but…in my rush not to forget anything, I must have put it in my bag. I’m sorry I dragged you two all the way out here. You almost died because of me.” he concluded solemnly.

Keith didn’t look at him too hard or commit his outfit to memory. He had a similar jawline to the others and his eye’s shape, while noticeably different, was vaguely similar. Same hairline.

“I’m Akihiro, Sven’s father.” the wolf sitting at the head of the table said, standing as well. He waved at him with a friendly smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” His hair was the longest of the whole family’s - whose name he couldn’t remember. Sh-something - reaching down to his shoulders even in a ponytail. “This is Takashi, but you can just call him ‘Shiro.’"

Shirogane! That was the name!

Keith yawned again and lifted the back of his hand to cover his mouth, and then plopped his head on Akira’s shoulder. Akira still hadn’t let him go, and he wasn’t going to complain. “Nice to meet you,” he said sleepily, eyes slipping shut briefly. “Can we go to sleep now? Please?”

“Of course,” one of them chuckled. Keith saw ‘Shiro’ get up, pushing his chair in behind him, and head towards the hallway. “The bedrooms are all upstairs, so if you’ll follow me…” He turned left and disappeared, except to lean back to make sure they were coming; Keith followed in a way he’d describe as ‘eager, but sluggish.’ Akira didn’t follow immediately, trading quiet words with Sven before settling his hand on the back of Keith’s neck and walking just behind and to his left.

Shiro led the way upstairs and to the right immediately around the railing. “These are both bathrooms,” he told them, pointing towards two doors on adjacent walls. They turned in that direction and passed both doors going through the hallway, and then another short left took them in front of a door. “And this is the guest room. There are extra blankets and pillows in the closet. If you need anything, we’ll be downstairs - don’t hesitate to ask.” He smiled at them, a smile that was damn near identical to his mother’s, warm and friendly. “We’d be more than happy to help you.” The smile turned apologetic as he looked at them, a little more tense, and the he slipped past them and back towards the stairs.

“They’re nice,” Akira said with a sleepy smile. “Sven didn’t even know he had my orb; they turned out all of their bags looking for it.” Keith had gathered as much, but he was tired so he didn’’t bring that up. Akira held up his orb, also on a necklace. Then he opened the door and led the way inside.

It was simple, with white walls and a single queen-size bed pushed against the center of the far wall, just under the large sliding window, and a dresser against the left-side wall and a desk and chair against the right-side wall. The closet was to their immediate left when they walked in. Keith started stripping off his jacket and boots - oops, he should probably have taken those off in the garage or something… - and was debating the pros and cons of sleeping as a human versus as a fox when a rapid knock rapped on the door.

Shiro’s voice carried through the wood, telling them, “I- uh, I forgot, but here’s some of mine and Ryou’s old pajamas. If you want them. They’ll be right outside your door. Good night!”

And then his footsteps moved away and back downstairs, where Keith could hear his brothers, or one of them snickering. _“Shut up.”_ Shiro hissed at them.

 _“Nah.”_ Ryou said. _“Where’s the fun in that?”_

Akira shook his head. “Well, those pajamas will probably be more comfortable to sleep in than these clothes. I’ll make sure to thank them all again later.”

“I was thinking of just sleeping as a fox.” Keith shrugged a little.

“I’m too rattled to,” his brother said sadly, ears laying flat against his silky black tresses; he looked quite like their mother in that moment, whenever she was really and truly sad - Keith had only seen it a couple times, but it was ingrained in his mind. He opened the door and bent down to pick up the pajamas; Keith heard him stifle a snicker. “Oh my heavens…what a bunch of nerds.” He turned towards Keith and, trapping the rest between his arm and side, lifted up a pair of bottoms for him to see. They were deep, dark blue, with rabbits on crescent moons and clusters of yellow and brighter blue stars.

Moons. Rabbits. Werewolves.

He stared for a moment. “Well. They…saw an opportunity and took it.”

“They’re _fleece,_ Keith.”

_“Sometimes I think my sons originally bought these just to make the joke ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing,’ but leggings grew on them.”_

“They saw a triple opportunity and they took it,” he corrected, gesturing at them.

Akira sighed a little. “Well then, here. You can have these ones and I’ll take the moon cycles.” He wadded the pants up with a light blue shirt, with more stars and moons with rabbits, and tossed the bundle one-handed at Keith.

Keith caught the clothes against his chest more by reflex than active participation. “…thanks.” He was still considering sleeping as a fox, but. Akira wouldn’t be, and it’d feel weird to curl up as a fox without him. He was too used to it being _two_ bundles of fur at night, after all these years.

He quickly pulled off the rest of his clothes and got dressed in the pajamas. They were soft, as one would expect fleece to be, and comfortable, warm. Keith still wasn’t sure whether or not to sleep in his socks, but for now…his feet were still a little cold, so he was thinking ‘with.’ He didn’t like human feet, the toes were always cold or getting stubbed against the corners of things; dressers, beds, nightstands, tables, chairs, couches.

The human body was suffering as far as he was concerned. Only suffering. That was all.

While he could just sleep on Akira as a fox, he didn’t want to accidentally get squished or something.

The pajamas Akira pulled on had a dark blue, long sleeved shirt with a white crescent moon and three yellow stars and light blue bottoms with rows stacked atop each other, depicting the lunar phase cycle all the way down to the ankles, which were dark bands that hugged against the leg. They were a little too big for both of them, the pants a little too long and Akira’s sleeves reaching to his fingertips - but many humans liked oversized shorts like that because they were ‘cozy.’

The slightly-too-big pajamas ceased to mean anything as soon as he crawled under the covers. He was out the minute his head hit the pillow.

* * *

When Keith woke up next, it was to falling.

Falling forward onto the floor, with a loud _thud,_ blankets and pillows spilling around him. He shrieked as he pitched off the bed and next to him, he heard Akira shout.

He heard a plop and twisted, staring with wide, betrayed eyes, as the bed fell back onto its frame. Ryou stood next to the nightstand, wiping his hands off, and in hindsight, he didn’t sound very apologetic. He heard a groan from downstairs and a heavy sigh. He stretched upwards as he walked past them, fully dressed in leggings and a layered tank top duo - a black, close-sided one underneath and a gray one with printed font on the front reading: _‘Everything HURTS and I’m DYING’_ \- and a black, with gray on the back and some on the sleeves, jacket tied around his waist _._ He stopped at the door and turned on his heel. His eyes lit up and he exclaimed, “Oh! Good, you two are awake! So, let me catch you up on what you’ve missed - it is 9:40 AM and the sun rose about an hour ago, so it’ll probably be setting around 4:30 tonight; you’ve been asleep for three days, give or take a few hours;  Dad made cinnamon rolls, bacon, sausage, eggs, and hash-browns. Also, Mom has work stuff in Anchorage for the rest of the week, so we won’t see her again until Friday night.” He opened the door and stepped out, only briefly leaning back into to add: “Oh, you’ll want to get downstairs fast if you want to get some of the food. We all want seconds, you see. Don’t bother changing. Clothes can wait.” and then he disappeared, closing the door behind him. He heard him call down the stairs, _“Keith and Akira are up!”_

_“Yes, Ryou, we heard.”_

_“Hard to miss with super hearing.”_

Keith turned his gaze away from the door slowly, eventually locking eyes with Akira while he absorbed all of that. All he could think was: _rude._

 _“If they go back to sleep, I have dibs on Keith’s food.”_ Ryou declared. Someone started to object and he interrupted and countered them, _“I’m still growing, Sven. I need the extra food more than you.”_

_“What?! You can’t-”_

_“Ryou has a point, Sven. He is still growing. And so am I for the rest of this year, so…”_

Sven sputtered, indignant. _“What?! Bullshit!”_

_“Bone epiphyseal plates don’t seal until later, after eighteen, so…”_

_“He is twenty! Dad, this is bullshit!”_

Akihiro laughed, _“Boys, I_ can _just make more you know. We still have a whole other two packages of bacon and sausage in the freezer. But, Sven, Ryou is right. Your bones aren’t fully sealed until twenty one or so - why do you think you three_ all _got first serve on seconds until you were twenty two?”_

Keith flicked his ears and stood up.

“Sounds like we should get down there before Ryou and Shiro dig into our food…” Akira murmured, heading for the door. His tail swished behind him, almost awkwardly from how it had to bend up and over the waist-line of his pajamas, but Keith wasn’t going to point it out. His brother probably knew and was trying to ignore it.

Keith opened the door first and stepped out to be greeted by the savory smell of eggs, and bacon and sausage and hash-browns, and something cinnamon-y, drifting up from the stairwell.

Going around the railing was also optional, he decided. He placed a hand on the smooth, polished wood surface and hopped over it as one might a fence, but with a considerable drop below ground level on the other side. Uneven, descending ground.

Maybe not his best idea, but he didn’t completely face plant on his landing, only by the grace of being a fox and bracing his hands on either wall.

And then he all but bolted down while hearing Akira take a deep breath in.

“I told you: the _railing is optional,_ Sven, Takashi.” Ryou said insistently from somewhere in the kitchen; Keith saw him as he rounded the corner, turning left, standing at the stove with a fork, a piece of sausage was skewered on the end of it. He promptly popped it into his mouth. “They never believe me, Keith. Just ‘you’re going to break your fucking ankle, Ryou.’”

“ _Language,_ ” Shiro said sternly. He sat at the table, in the side-chair closest to the kitchen, and wore a simple gray shirt under an unbuttoned baby blue shirt with its sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and…jeggings? They looked like jeans, but they fit too well.

There was no way they were real. His socks, which Keith could see, looked like the Starry Night painting humans hailed as a classical.

The night, few nights, before, he hadn’t really noticed it before, but the back and sides of Shiro’s hair were in an undercut, and Keith wondered if he his ears got cold a lot.

Sven sat on the opposite side of the table, wearing jeans and a black shirt under a blue jacket. In front of them both, he expected to see dirty dishes, but the table was mostly clean, only a few mail letters and a Soldotna High School newsletter dared to reside on the tabletop.

It took him a moment to find Akihiro, probably because he was in the doorless pantry; he emerged with a loaf of bread in hand, and set it down on the counter to the right of the stove. “Ryou, stop eating all of the sausage.” he chided. “And get me more eggs from the fridge, please.”

“Yes, Dad.” Ryou took one last bite and then dropped his fork onto a plate waiting on the counter.

“Keith, your and Akira’s plates are in the fridge; I wasn’t sure how long you two would be asleep for.” Akihiro turned and grabbed a bowl from the sink’s counter, with yellow egg yolk and clumps of brown spice - cinnamon - pooling in it, and brought it over to his ‘base of operations.’

Today, he was wearing leggings and layered tanktops, like Ryou - his pink with black letters spelling out _‘BETTER SORE THAN SORRY.’_ \- and his hair was once more in a ponytail. On his left shoulder, Keith could see a tribal-stylized tattoo of a wolf running upwards and twisting towards his torso. Something else framed it in the tattoo, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was; it looked cool though, if it had him wondering if it was a werewolf thing or not. He could vaguely see another one on his back, but he was at an entirely wrong direction to make out anything of it.

“Thank you,” he said.

Ryou beat him to the refrigerator, swinging open the black door and staring in lazily. Then he handed Keithone plate, and held out another but shifted it away from his grabbing hand, with a generous amount of bacon and sausage on it, and a fair amount of hash-browns as well as one of the largest damn eggs he’d seen cooked.

Ryou only relinquished the plate when Akira finally caught up, less than a minute later, and accepted it. “Thank you very much.” Akira told him.

He grunted in acknowledgement and pulled out the whole two-dozen egg carton from the fridge, somewhere on the bottom shelf Keith would guess from the way he bent down. Ryou guided the door shut with his foot before returning to his place at the stove and setting down the eggs.

He promptly resumed picking at what sausage was still in the pan and Akihiro sighed a little.

“What time was Amue going to meet up with us?” he asked, rather than chasing Ryou away from the sausage again.

Maybe because of that, he shoved a whole fork-full into his mouth and chewed. Keith took a seat on Shiro’s right, occupying the other chair, and Shiro gave him a small, friendly wave. He returned it.

Sven scooted down the bench and pat it. Akira smiled at him and accepted the seat.

“Around eleven, last time I checked.” Ryou dug out his phone from his jacket pocket, down near his knees, and tapped at the screen a few times. “I was going to go walk with her and then meet back up here for the car.” Akihiro hummed in affirmation and nodded.

Keith turned his attention away from them and focused instead on his food. Even cold, it smelled good. Really good.

He decided to get on with it, aware of Shiro watching him weirdly closely, and took a bite out of the bacon. It was cooked just right - no trace of raw meat, but still chewier than it was crunchy, just a little crispy - and of course a werewolf would be able to tell without even a bite. There was a perfect ratio of fat to meat - something like 1:3 if he had to guess what that ratio would look like. More meat than fat.

“I think he likes it. What about you, Sven; what do you think?” Shiro said, smiling. Keith swivelled an ear at Shiro, and then at his brother..

His own brother actually moaned, and Keith felt a little embarrassed except…good bacon was good bacon.

“I think they both like it.” Sven answered decisively. “Dad, you have more fans of your bacon.”

“…then- hmm? Oh. Ah, yes - thank you for reminding me, Sven. Ryou, will you fill the sink up with hot water and put the sausage and bacon in there. Just…all of them. We’ll take some with us to Anytime. And a jar of fish for Amue; you know how much she likes your cousin’s smoked salmon.”

“I can do that, yeah.” Ryou agreed. Over the sounds of sizzling egg on bread, Keith deduced that  the youngest - Ryou _was_ the youngest if Shiro was twenty and Sven was over twenty-two, right? - of the them hopped to it immediately. Keith could understand the eagerness for more bacon, one-hundred and thirty percent, and he had a feeling the rest was going to be equally as good. Shiro and Sven kept watching him quietly, so obviously they were still curious about how they felt about the rest; Keith ate another piece of bacon, and then moved on to the sausage. It had a rich, juicy flavor, with hints of honey and smokiness - probably the meat itself - and something that seemed familiar, but different…

“It’s moose sausage, if you were wondering.” Shiro supplied. “Our grandpa ground it up, but I think Sven’s the one who took it down?”

“Oh, no. We finished eating that moose before we went on our trip. This is the roadkill from Funny River; which, yes, I am the one who got it, but the honor of taking it down goes to Zach.”

Shiro arched a brow. “What? _Zach_ hit the moose? Is that why he’s driving his mom’s van?”

“You didn’t know? Shiro, his truck got totaled _._ He almost got flipped into the ditch by the damn bull.”

Keith took another bite, eyeing the sausage on his plate. Being moose sausage explained why it seemed familiar; just last…three? Three days ago he’d eaten moose _burger._ He decidedly liked moose.

Akira made a face at it, scrunching his nose and his tail thrashing once in a single, aborted action. He didn’t seem to like it. “Is, uh, Zach okay?”

“Hm?” Sven looked at him. “Oh, yeah. He’s fine. He just got that truck too.”

“Ah. That’s good,” Akira said, eating another strip of bacon. Yeah, he didn’t like the moose meat.

Sven reached over and plucked some of the sausage and dropped it into his maw; Keith could see where Ryou got his eating habits. Akira just turned the plate to make Sven’s work easier. Keith finished eating his sausage - read as: shoveling it into his mouth as politely as one could shovel food and break every eating etiquette in Japan all in one- and moved on to his eggs. ”Dad didn’t season either of your eggs because he didn’t know if you had any allergies. There’s salt and Greek spice and seasoning salt, if you want.” Sven said. Keith looked up, but Sven wasn’t paying attention to him, not really; his body wasn’t just _angled_ at Akira, it was _turned,_ with his left arm resting on the tabletop. Louder, he continued, “I’m sure Ryou wouldn’t mind getting it for you.”’

“Please,” Akira added quickly.

“Sure,” Ryou agreed. He reached into the cupboard to the left of the stove and pulled all three down. “We also have basil and italian seasoning if you’re a weirdo like me.”

Keith flicked his ear. “Why not?”

Ryou pulled all five items out and brought them over, setting them down on the table one-by-one. “Have at it.” he said. Keith and Akira simply stared at them for a moment, before reaching for the spices; neither of them had ever seasoned food before - as foxes they had no reason to even cook the food, and usually their food was cooked with spices, by someone else they paid.

Usually during festivals and what not, where they would blend in with a crowd and be nondescript.

Keith eyed the back of the Greek spice, curious. Akira sprinkled some Italian seasoning on his, and dug in.

“…have you ever actually seen these spices before?” Ryou asked after a moment.

“Not that I know of,” Keith answered, cutting into his unseasoned egg.

Breakfast was good. Keith tried all the seasonings with his egg at some point - he liked the salt the most, but Greek spice wasn’t bad; from that particular mix he did quite like the black pepper.

And while the bacon was amazing, his favorite part had to be the cinnamon french toast. He gobbled four or so slices down with good ol’ - to quote Ryou, whose brothers had rolled their eyes - Mrs. Butterworth’s sugar free syrup. It was good. He loved it.

Not long after Ryou got himself more bacon and a couple slices of french toast, he pulled his jacket on and ran out of the house as fast as he could - which was. It was fast. Faster than Keith in human form by far. Shiro explained that his girlfriend, Amue, was a nereid who lived in the Kenai river, so he was going to pick her up now. They met a year ago, during one of the times Ryou was trying to fish in wolf form - she was sitting on the snowy bank in only short, sleeveless dress and as Ryou was leaving, he saw her and became scared she’d catch hypothermia in the cold weather, so he starting taking his coat off and approached her. Amue was only amused from seeing him playing in the river and thought the action and intent sweet; she even asked him on a date. After that, they started hanging out and getting to know each other, and it was only a few months ago, less than half a year, that they started dating - or, as Shiro also mentioned, that he started getting evicted from his own room, sometimes.

They shared the other big room, apparently.

And then, the moment Keith had been trying really hard to pretend wouldn’t happen, forget it even _could_ : they let Shiro’s dog inside.

Keith and Akira were given a little warning about it, and they were both thankful they’d elected to relieve themselves beforehand.

‘Roxxie’ was a little over a foot and a half tall with black fur and brown markings, a tail that curled and big, puffy cheeks. She shook herself off, discarding melting snow in the living room and making her dog tags jingle. The cat came in with her, sporting her long calico-colored coat that was predominantly black after white and large green eyes. She jumped daintily up onto the back of the couch and meowed.

“He went to go get Amue,” Shiro told her. She meowed again, louder. “You always claw me; I’m not petting you.”

Keith would have wondered about that if Roxxie weren’t right up in front of him, sitting before him while panting and wagging her tail hard. He couldn’t pull his knees to his chest and climb onto the chair fast enough for the spike of panic that shot through him. She scooted forward ever so slightly with a whine. “She’s a therapy dog,” Shiro told him, kneeling down beside her. “Originally for my anxiety, and then for Ryou’s panic attacks. Then it was Dad’s and Sven’s insomnia, and Mom being really upset and bummed out. She won’t get into your personal bubble without permission, but she can tell you’re distressed, and she just wants to comfort you.” He kept stroking her for a minute. “Sorry girl, but…” before snapped his fingers and pointed towards the living room. “Go lay down.”

Roxxie whined at Shiro and tossed her head around to look at Akira, probably in a similar position. Keith laid his ears back and thrashed his tail, pulled his lips back in a silent, um, hiss. Maybe it was a hiss. “ _Roxxie,_ ” Shiro repeated firmly. He pointed again and this time, Roxxie climbed to her paws and trotted over to her dog bed in the living room, where she whined at Shiro again.

Sven snorted. “Okay, so, I have a fox in my arms and Roxxie is doing her ‘I just want to help’ pout, uh, like her owner, so I’m going to go to the gaming room, I think.” Shiro rolled his eyes.

“I do not have a ‘I just want to help’ pout.”

“Yes you do,” their father chimed in from…somewhere. Keith turned an ear towards the hallway in time to hear Akihiro’s footsteps just before he emerged. He made hand gestures, with only one hand - the other was tucked behind his back - while he spoke. “You got so pouty when you found out Ryou had a C in History, eighth grade year. ‘Why didn’t you ask me to help you, Ryou? I got an A in that class.’ And then you just pouted. For days.” Akihiro stopped and turned towards Roxxie. She perked up instantly. “Mom bought you a new a toy, Roxxie. Are you ready?” he asked. She barked, and he pulled the rope, at least two feet in length with a tennis ball on one half like a lime green bead, from behind his back; Keith flinched at the snarly sound and then next he knew, he was falling out of the chair in a tangle of clothes.

“What? I did not pout _for days._ ” Shiro shook his head. Keith felt hands scoop him up, pushing the pajamas off of him. He clung to the exposed forearm and resisted the urge to bolt.

Sven finally stood; from the corner of his eyes, Keith could see that he’d been gathering up Akira’s pajamas- oh, he had meant a literal fox…in fox form. Akira clung to Sven’s front and shoulder, claws digging into his letterman jacket. “Uh, yes you did. You were totally distraught that he didn’t ask for your help. It was pathetic. Ah-ah, no! I have pictures, I have photographic proof, Shiro.”

“I was upset he was just taking a C rather than asking any of us to help him! He has this- this _thing_ about asking for help!” Shiro exclaimed. He made jerky hand movements with his free hand, obviously frustrated. “I don’t understand it. Okay, I just- I _don’t_ understand it.”

Akihiro placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, with his lips pursed and brows drawn a little. It was a sympathetic gesture.

“And that’s okay. You should take him with your brother…s?”

Shiro blinked at Akihiro for a moment, and then nodded, though it probably went without saying that it had been his intention. “And then I was going to get them some clothes.”

Akihiro hummed a little. “See? You just want to help.”

Shiro groaned and headed down the hallway. “ _Bye,_ ” he told them over his shoulder as he took the stairs.

Keith thought he heard Sven mutter, _“That’s not…the gaming room.”_

 _“He’ll be back down.”_ Akihiro reassured him.

_“He took Keith upstairs with him.”_

“Excellent observation, Sven,” Shiro said, rolling his eyes again. He had no need to yell for his brother or father to hear him. Keith pressed his ears against his head again. “You are…an _adorable_ fox. Has anyone told you that?” he inquired. Holding Keith up in front of him, leaving the pajamas slung over his elbow, he added, “And your fur is absolutely _gorgeous._ ”

Keith squirmed a little; were he in human form, he imagined his whole face would have turned as red as a tomato. ‘Pretty’ and ‘beautiful’ and ‘gorgeous’ as compliments always made him turn red.

Not that he wasn’t, like, born red - well, actually, more brown at the time of birth with the red coming in a little bit later, so ‘naturally red’ was probably more apt - or anything. With the darkest red fur coat to not naturally occur in ordinary foxes; a color that usually had to be bred into them by human interference.

“…sorry. Being held like that is probably uncomfortable.” He pulled Keith back towards his chest, rounding the corner around the railing once, then again.

Keith gave no comment.

Shiro went to the last door on their left now, to the right of the guest room Keith and Akira had slept in for apparently three days.

“I can’t imagine being that small,” Shiro confessed. He set Keith, along with his borrowed pajamas, down on the bed on the left side of the room, with space-themed covers - black with little rockets and cartoon-y stars and moons and planets. “Um, never mind the bed.” He sounded almost embarrassed. “I forgot to wash my blue galaxy blankets before going to Japan, so…fourth grade ones will do.” Keith still felt shaky from just knowing the dog was downstairs - he could hear her barking and growling, and Akihiro narrating:

_“It was a mighty battle of tug o’ war between the wolf and shiba-inu, both sides too fierce to give in!”_

…but he still cocked his head at Shiro. He didn’t understand why he felt the need to ‘excuse’ his bedding at all. It could have been….pokemon or something, and Keith wouldn’t judge.

His favorites were vulpix and ninetails, anyway.

He bet Shiro was an arcanine type of person. It just made sense.

Shiro wandered over to his closet, the door of which was at the foot of his bed and just before his desk - it was an L-shaped desk, meant to fit neatly in the corner, but he had it turned so that it pressed against the wall and the hooked out into the open space between his right; it was organized meticulously, with a laptop on it, a black plastic penholder, and textbooks sorted on the left-side of the desk. There were pictures too, family photos, but Keith felt weird, like he was intruding, just looking at them, so he quickly turned his gaze back to Shiro. He pulled open the closet door and pulled out a pinkish tote with the label ‘OLD CLOTHES’ written on it in sharpie. It was big, and probably heavy, but Shiro lifted it without a problem.

He set it down gently, too.

And then he undid the snaps…clamps…and shoved the lid under the tote. “I think I’ll just take this downstairs for Akira too…” he murmured thoughtfully, eyes falling onto Keith while he peered over the brim curiously. “Yeah, I’ll let you two sort that out down there.”

Keith flattened his ears once more, at that.

He didn’t want to go ‘down there.’ The dog was down there.

Shiro picked him up anyway and put him in with the clothes, and lifted the tote by its handles. Rather than verbalize his displeasure, he pressed as close to, and into, the clothes as he could so he wouldn’t risk falling out with every step Shiro took. It was like a big nest, made of clothes rather than his usual materials, if he tried to imagine it as such, albeit moving. Shiro had to pivot going down the stairs with the tote in hand, but still seemed largely unbothered by its bulk.

Rather than taking a right back out to the living room, where Keith could still hear sounds of play, he turned left and followed until the end of the hallway just a couple of paces down, and then freed up a hand by resting the tote against his propped leg, to open the door to their left and not in front of them. Sven’s voice greeted them as Shiro stepped inside. “You could have just asked me to open the door.” he said from where he sat sunk into a beanie chair. Akira lounged next to and on it as well.

“You and Akira sounded like you were having fun,” Shiro responded with a playful twist of his lips.

Keith craned his neck to blink up at Shiro; he hadn’t heard anything.

“Ah, well.” Keith heard Akira start. “I have to admit I’ve never really played video games before, but Sven is a good teacher. He’s giving me a crash course in ‘Super Smash Bros,’ I believe.”

“He’s…starting to get the hang of it.”

Shiro set the tote down at the foot of the couch and then headed back towards the door. “Well, have fun. I’m going to go hang out-” he caught himself, abruptly, and then finished, “-in the living room.”

“Yeah, sure.” Sven said in acknowledgement. “Let us know when Ryou gets back with his girlfriend.”

As he was closing the door behind him, Shiro made an expression - one with wide eyes and raised brows; an expression for emphasis. “I think his hell-cat will do that for you, Sven.” And then he was gone, and Keith could barely hear his footsteps on the other side of the wall.

Keith tracked his movement until he was out in the living room and he could only hear his and Akihiro’s voices too muffled to make out.

Then he turned his attention to the room. Immediately in front of his was a black-framed, rectangular coffee table. Across it from him were two TV stands with, well, exactly what one would expect to find on them: a TV each and gaming platforms. Sven and Akira were using the one closest to the door while the other remained inactive and turned off. Behind him was a couch, dark brown in color, and then off to his left was another, vacant, beanie chair. Past that was a closet and- the stairs, maybe? The wall was entirely closed off, but it was definitely where the stairs should be.

“Ah!” Akira exclaimed. Keith looked over to see him pouting at the screen. “I think I died.”

“It happens,” Sven reassured him, patting him on the back. “I’ll avenge you. Keith’s sitting on the clothes My baby brother brought down for you if you want to get out of the PJs.”

Akira nodded and scooted towards the tote. “Are you just…going to stay like that?” Akira asked him. Keith stared at him dryly. “Well…move, at least. _I_ would like to wear something else.”

Keith turned his ears back again, but jumped out of the tote when Akira made to pick him up, and landed on the floor next to it.

“That’s what I thought.”

An upbeat soundtrack played from the TV, replacing the yelling and clashing noises from before. The screen had changed completely, with a line up of characters. All but two looked defeated, a red and golden character - it looked to be a metallic suit - with a blaster for an arm, and a another with blond hair and dressed in green. ‘Samus’ and ‘Link’ their names read. _Ohhh,_ Keith actually knew of them.

Sven set his controller down and pivoted to watch them quietly.

The cheery tone continued to play and the characters only shifted their pose a little. Keith stared at it over the coffee table and sat back on his hind legs. He rested his front paws on the table and stretched up.

Sven’s eye twitched and he fixed his gaze on Keith’s paws with his brows furrowed.

Slowly, he climbed up onto the surface if it and paced around it, taking a better look at the room. He hadn’t noticed it, but there were coaster on the table, pretty and flowery in design, almost looking like a stencil, albeit each a single, differing color. There were three stacks of three on the center of the glass, waiting to be put to use. Keith thought they were very aesthetically pleasing, but secretly he was happy they weren’t a moon or wolf; this family would have gone too far if that were the case. Too far.

There were also four little, pale pink candles on each of the corners of the glass; none of them were lit, but they still smelled of cherry blossoms. He spied an incense holder up in front of the left TV, also the one without the Wii sensor.

“Keith, for the love of-…get off the table. I _just_ cleaned it two hours ago.” Sven said, finally.

Keith blinked at him, then hopped down.

“ _Thank you._ ”

“ _You’re welcome,_ ” Keith responded without thinking. He continued padding about the room, sniffing. It smelled like cherry blossoms, of course, but also like recently fallen snow - it always surprised him, every year, to re-realize that that was a distinct smell and one would have thought he’d have remembered by now, but there he was, smelling it again and having the same realization of _‘oh, this_ is _a scent’_ \- and pine. _Spruce,_ he corrected himself. There was hint of dust from the closet, and something else…

Akira talked quietly to himself, debating what he wanted to wear, what looked comfortable and what looked nice.

“I didn’t ever think I’d see a fox trotting around my house,” Sven commented. Keith flicked his ears at him. “I’ll be right back.” He climbed to his feet. “I’m going to go get the fruit bowl from the kitchen.”

“We’ll be here,” Akira told him.

As the door closed behind him, Akira stood and started stripping out of his clothes. “I can’t believe you just walked around the table. I know we’ve both had showers and stuff, but really, Keith?” he frowned as he told Keith that, pulling on a dark T-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. The shirt was too big for him, but Keith was sure he knew that. He wasn’t sure why he’d want to wear something so baggy, but a big, plain dark blue sweater followed it. Then he pulled his long hair over his shoulder and braided it once more.

He stood on only three paws and kind of shrugged at Akira. “ _I was curious._ ”

“Uh-huh.”

Akira reclaimed his spot on the beanie, humming. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

“Are you doing okay?” he abruptly asked. Keith backed up from smelling the heaters that ran along the wall - they only smelled of metal - and turned his head and ears to fully face Akira. “The other day got…scary. Really scary. If I hadn’t pushed us to keep going, and maybe spent my energy building a den instead, we would have been more alert, and more prepared, too.” He reached for Keith, and maybe not even consciously, but Keith padded over to him anyway; yes, the other day had turned terrifying. For an awful minute that had felt more like hours upon hours, he’d thought for sure Akira was going to die, like their mother, and he was going to be left alone - completely alone. No big brother to awkwardly try and wrap around him in the den, not quite as big as their mama, or lick his face clean, or help him get through it. He, in fact, climbed up onto Akira’s chest, and Akira rubbed between his ears; something their mom had done to make them feel better, and they’d both just learned it from her - Hana had probably done it as a guess that it would help, like rubbing one of her son’s back. “But…when you clipped that tree, I thought you were going to die. That was scary. And then when I got you into that tree and safe - I…felt so _certain_ I was about to…about to die.” he choked, trying to finish his sentence, and Keith crawled up higher and buried his muzzle in his neck.

His chest felt tight, and if this body were capable of it, he imagined he would be shaking from weak - so far, weak - sobs.

He’d felt the same. He’d felt alone, even after Ryou scared the coyotes off. No… _especially_ after - he _had_ been alone, literally, too petrified to move.

He’d felt that way until Hana found him and he jumped in her arms.

Keith liked Hana, a lot. She reminded him of his mother, and that simultaneously comforted him and made him want to cry his eyes out, but she was lovely and kind - she and her husband both - and she’d taken such good care of them…

He wanted to see her again.

Keith heard a choked sobbing sound from Akira, a strangled noise caught in his throat, and peaked up at his face. He wasn’t _shocked_ to see Akira crying, he had tears of his own staining his fur and if he opened his mouth, it would most definitely be pitiful. He scooted up again, and stretched forward to lick his face, hopefully in a gesture that’d comfort him. Both of them, really.

As abruptly as he had started speaking, Akira burst out with a laugh. “Ah-haha- Keith! That feels really weird without fur!” Keith gave his face a final, eighth lick, and then he pulled back a little. Akira brought up a hand to wipe at his face, wondering aloud, “Is this what humans mean when they talk about cats licking their face?”

“ _I bet they’ve never been licked by a fox._ ” Keith waved his tail a little.

“Mmhm. Probably not.” Akira kept petting him, letting his eyes fall closed. “I’m sorry - again, I just…I’m just glad we’re both okay now. Thank you.”

Keith chittered at him quietly, then purred a little. It was the closest equivalent to a human’s humming noise that he had in this form, and he thought it conveyed his feelings better anyway. Akira smiled.

He rested his head on Akira’s collarbone, and closed his eyes too.

Though he’d evidently slept for three days, he could easily imagine falling back asleep right there. And he was almost asleep, minutes later, when Akira asked, “Don’t you think Sven should have been back by now?”

Keith shifted a little to sorta shrug at him again. “ _Yeah, maybe._ ” After thinking a little, “ _Yeah. Definitely ‘yeah.’_ ”

“…can you hear him at all? I can’t seem to…”

Keith perked up, swivelling his ears towards the door. Akira craned his head forward too, and flicked his ears about as well. He heard three- no, fou- _five_ voices from the living room, albeit faintly. He recognized Ryou’s voice, and assumed the completely unfamiliar, higher pitched laugh was ‘Amue.’ Once more, he couldn’t discern what was being said. Just little snatches if he focused hard enough.

He wondered what the walls were made of that both he and Akira couldn’t, but Shiro had been able to.

“ _I think Ryou is back with Amue._ ”

“I think so too. Shall we go say ‘hello’?”

Keith blinked at him dully. “ _The dog is out there._ ”

“Oh…right…I’ll, uh, hold you?” Akira offered hesitantly, expression weak. _Oh yes, that’ll be really helpful for when you lose form again and_ poof _back into a fox,_ Keith thought.

Akira had _poofed_ back into a fox before Keith, and Roxxie had been a whole table away from him.

“ _I’ll pass._ ”

“It’s rude to not say ‘hello,’ Keith. They saved our li-”

“ _They’re also the reason we almost got killed in the first place._ ”

“That was an accident. Sven thought my orb-” Akira touched his left wrist and rubbed in a small circle, “-was still in the cabin.”

Keith angled his ears back. “ _I’m just pointing it out._ ”

Akira frowned at him, black-tipped ears settling against his hair. “Keith…I will _bite_ you.”

“No need for that!” a voice muffled voice called through the door; Sven entered, carrying a big white bowl that looked like it was once upon a time a noodle strainer before it had been repurposed to hold the fruits. Ryou followed, fingers intertwined with the person he had in tow: Amue.

She was certainly pretty and striking. Her skin was dark, dusky, and her hair was as white as the powder outside, long and cascading down her back even though it was in a pretty-looking up-do. She had a mischievous smile and bright blue eyes that were framed by a small, sky blue stripe on either cheekbone. Her ears were long and pointed, and she wore a gold earring-cap over the end, with three studs, alternating gold, silver, gold, down the length of them. She was clothed in a sleeveless, thigh-length pastel pink dress with darker pink accents, and white leggings that led down to fluffy bright blue socks.

In short, Amue looked like a princess.

Akira hurried to stand, cradling Keith against his side, and held out his hand to her. “Hello, I’m Akira. This is Keith.”

“Ryou told me about you two. The kitsune…foxes, right?” Amue grinned at him and accepted his handshake. “I’m Amue, but I usually go by ‘Romelle.’ It’s my other name.”

“Well, it’s very pretty.”

“Thank you. Your ears are super adorable, too.”

Keith craned his neck to look up at Akira - just to see the glory that was his cheeks turning red with a blush. “Oh, um. Thank you. They’re very soft too.”

 _Heavens help you if Sven wears something so nice…_ he thought at his brother. Sadly, neither of them were truly telepathic and could not read minds nor transmit thoughts. Uh, mostly. Sensing memories and information wasn’t the same thing to their magic. Or maybe it was and they just were the worst at utilizing it for reading thoughts.

“Really? Can I feel?” she asked, leaning forward a little. “I’ll be gentle; Ryou’s ears are sensitive.”

Akira gave two short chuckles. “Sure, yeah.”

Keith folded his own ears, staring at Akira flatly. He had no idea how Akira acted when he first saw Sven or any of the Shiroganes, but he’d already confessed finding them all ‘pretty cute,’ Sven especially; if he was too tired to get flustered like this and only regained the energy for it today, but thought it was too late to have this reaction and was containing it now - or if he’d had the reaction and everyone had since moved on from it and any awkwardness he exhibited, or if he just skipped the flustering altogether.

However it went, he was still judging his brother for the way he got with humans.

He only had to tilt his head a little for Amue to reach his ears comfortably; Akira was short for a human, a male, specifically, that was a fact, and Romelle was about the same height as him. She bounced up to her tiptoes, more from a bubbly attitude than needing to, and reached her hands up.

“Ohhhhh, they _are_ soft!” she exclaimed, grinning so wide her teeth showed. Romelle stepped back and reached for Ryou’s hand again.

Ryou was glaring at Sven, who was - or, Keith could only describe it as - side-eyeing him with a slightly raised brow. Keith flicked his ear; he knew a silent and judging conversation when he saw one. He had been giving Akira the same look Sven was giving Ryou just last week…although, he didn’t remember the details for why. Keith was fine with that. He didn’t want to know anyway.

But. Judging. Sven was judging Ryou…

Was it the ‘sensitive ears’ comment?

…it was definitely the ‘sensitive ears’ comment. Keith had a gut feeling. His instincts said it was so and he trusted his instincts.

Keith snickered to himself silently.

He didn’t think he could snicker in his form without it sounding ‘weird as hell.’

“Oh no,” Akira said, looking down at him. “What has you amused?”

Keith looked up. _Dammit, tail._ he thought. Of course it had to waggle. Not that his body didn’t still shake from a silent laugh, but…blame it on the tail. “ _Judging._ ” he said shortly. The reaction was immediate.

“I hate you _both._ Come on, Amue. You wanted to get ready for Anytime here, didn’t you? We have to get going soon, _bye._ ” Ryou all but pushed Amue out, she laughed as she went, and threw a murderous look at Sven, then Keith. Then back to Sven. His cheeks were burning red, spreading across his face more slowly. Keith felt accomplished with himself, and lazily watched until the door closed. Sven stared flatly and unimpressed, _unfazed,_ then set the fruitbowl down on the table.

“There’s some apples, bananas, oranges - Cuties, specifically. All of us like them. Be careful for seeds though. I always get one that has seeds. They’re not even supposed to have seeds.”

“ _That just sounds like bad luck,_ ” Keith informed him.

Sven shrugged. “Yeah, think I’ve been cursed in that regard, but-”

 _“Who’s superstitious now, Sven?!”_ Ryou’s voice shouted, muffled considerably through the wall. Keith wondered how he even heard Sven.

“Curses are real, Ryou!”

 _“So are kitsune!”_  Ryou sounded indignant and a little insulted. _“I told you, but no,”_ he drew out the _‘no’,_ long and pointedly yelled. Keith heard his voice, too quiet to be heard, say something else from in the living room. Either Shiro or his father responded to what was said.

Sven sighed a little. “Well,” he started. “Younger brothers are fantastic, aren’t they?”

Akira smiled and pulled Keith up towards his chest. Keith let him, staying relaxed in his grip. “Oh, for sure.” That phrase and all variants of it may as well have been his trademark saying. _‘Oh, definitely;’ ‘oh, yeah.’_ Keith couldn’t think of any others at the moment, but they should all be considered an Akira Signature. “I love mine to _pieces._ I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

“Be depressed, probably.” Sven told him automatically. “Takashi and Ryou are _absolutely_ the highlights of my day.” Keith wasn’t sure if that was sarcasm or bordered on sarcasm, but okay. _Okay, Sven._ “Ryou’s a little brat, I _mean that,_ ” he raised his voice a little and Keith heard Ryou shout something indistinct back, “but life would get very boring without him in it.”

Akira adjusted his hold so he was hugging Keith around his midsection, like a little kid with a favorite stuffed animal.

Keith didn’t really mind. Not yet. It was a little uncomfortable on his ribs and front legs, but that was fine. He could deal with it for a while, and would gladly. He swished his tail happily and stared at Sven.

“And lonely,” Akira said, squeezing Keith slightly and momentarily. His voice took on a depressing tone, and in a heartbeat, they may as well have been back in their Moment for the feeling that settled over Keith. He curled up a little, without really meaning to, bringing his hind legs up towards his gut and his tail curling between them. It wrapped around his left leg. Keith craned his head up and licked the underside of Akira’s chin; it was the only skin he could really reach, with his brother’s arms being concealed by his sweater, and it was a good method to…alleviate the mood?

“Ahgk!” Akira exclaimed, turning his head away. “Keith…we talked about this…”

They had, hadn’t they? It felt _weird_ without his fur. Keith knew that. He wanted to…comfort them, both of them, but- he couldn’t resist being a little mischievous. Mischief was .

He wiggled a little, trying to scoot up.

Akira tightened his grip, adjusting his grip to wrap a hand around his chest in an attempt detain him there. He failed; Keith got in range again and licked him on the jaw, victoriously. “You little shit,” Akira declared. He pushed Keith away from his body and held him at arm’s length under his pits. “You look entirely too pleased with yourself.” Keith hung from his hold limply again, and his tail swished through the air. The tip of it curled with the movement, accentuating it. “We were having a moment, Keith.”

“It’s okay,” Sven said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I think we interrupted your guys’ moment first…”

Akira was quiet as he said, “Oh…no. You didn’t interrupt. Keith was just falling asleep on me.”

“You guys just slept for three days?”

“ _Akira is very comfy,_ ” he asserted. Akira didn’t exactly have a wide chest, and no way would he be comfortable to lay on as a human, but in their natural form - hell yeah he was. And he smelled of familiar, soothing things. He squirmed in his brother’s grip. “ _Alright, put me down now._ ”

His brother chuckled and bent down. “Done letting big brother hold you?”

Keith gave a high-pitched ‘grunt’ of agreement as his feet touched the ground.

“So anyway…” there was a pause in which Sven hummed, before Akira asked, “what is ‘Anytime’?”

Keith looked up at Sven. He hoped his expression said _‘yes, what_ is _Anytime?’_ Sven glanced between them briefly, eyes seemingly drawn to Keith’s movement. “Anytime is a gym over in Soldotna. Ryou is home schooled, so he likes to go there for his P.E. ‘class,’ and Dad was one of the Track and Field coaches for So. Hi.”

“Oh. I see,” Akira said.

Keith wondered why Ryou was home schooled, but it wasn’t any of his business.

Though there wasn’t much more to explore in the room, Keith kept wandering anyway. Akira and Sven got settled back down on their beanbag, positioning the fruitbowl between them - his brother immediately made for an apple and let out yet another embarrassing _‘this is so good’_ noise; Keith ignored Sven’s comment about the type of apple it was and _“yeah, they are pretty good, huh?”_ \- and got back to playing their video game. Keith would’ve loved to explore the rest of the house, but werewolves, in human form with intelligent, metacognitive minds, were a whole other thing from a dog, and he was far from sold on Roxxie being benign. It just wasn’t in his nature to trust canines, whether they were actually foxhounds or not,and his own father served as the cautionary tale as to why he shouldn’t.

Dogs were said to still be able to see them for being foxes, too, even when they were shapeshifted as humans, and that was part of the reason kitsune had such difficulty maintaining the form around them. Highly perceptive individuals were also said to be able to do the same, but every person in this house knew they were foxes and they still kept their human form just fine, so perhaps it was just an old, tall tale meant to teach young kitsune to stay away from humans and their hounds. Or, maybe, it was more a matter of actively trying to expose the kitsune?

He didn’t know and he didn’t care. He didn’t like dogs at all.

Especially not right now. _Especially._

Eventually, he settled down tucked against Akira, pulling the bowl over a little so he could sniff the contents. Sven eyed him again, much like he had when he climbed onto the coffee table but only in glances this time, so he made his business quick and swiped a delicious-smelling apple. It was red, splotched with yellow and bits of green; so, not a ‘delicious’ red apple.

Delicious red apples were lies.

“I should have brought paper towels…” He heard Sven murmur.

He took a nice, juicy bite of the apple. It wasn’t the type of bite he could have pulled off with human teeth, not a big chunk - more of a medium-scrape, really - but it was juicy and it was nice all the same.

It was while he was digging into the apple that Romelle popped back into the room, arms open. “Sven, this is so sweet. You got me the tank top?”

They all looked up. She was wearing gray capris now with blue shoes. The article of clothing she drew attention to was her pale blue tank top, partnered with a pink one underneath, that read: _‘I BUST MINE TO KICK YOURS.’_ Her hair was even pulled up higher, though there was still a tail falling down her shoulders. It was a good combo for her, Keith felt.

Sven stood up. “Yeah. I thought it suited you.” He stepped in for the hug and she squeezed him so tightly Keith heard him wheeze faintly and bones pop.

“Aww, thank you!” and with that, she ran back out of the room.

Sven swayed for a minute, and Keith flicked his ears.

* * *

It was a few hours later that Akihiro returned, with Ryou and Amue in tow. And, also, Subway sandwiches.

Shiro put his dog outside like it was clockwork, Roxxie already waiting for him at the door, and then they all sat down around the table. Ryou’s cat, who Keith still didn’t know the name of, launched herself at Ryou, and in one elegant bound, she reached his shoulder and balanced there. Her owner reached up to pet her, greeting her quietly. _“Hey, sweetie. Miss me?”_ She meowed in response, loudly and in his ear. He kept walking around, one hand raised to pet her, and she balanced on both of his shoulders expertly. Like it was a daily routine.

Keith came creeping out of the game room in a black T-shirt and black leggings, plus the other fun stuff - human clothes were still a little uncomfortable to him, after two decades of occasionally donning them - like underwear and socks. He smoothed his hand through his hair to check for his ears, and then made his way to the dining table. Not that it mattered if his ears were there, here at the house, but it was important for him to be able to hold his shapeshifted form roperly - and practice was said to make perfect.

Akihiro sat at the head of the table, nearest the kitchen, and Sven sat at the other end. Ryou sat on the far end of the bench with Amue and Shiro sat on the other side of her.

That left the two outside chairs up for grabs.

“The sweet onion chicken teriyaki number one is mine,” Ryou told Shiro. He scrunched his nose. “Number two is yours with all your extra veggies.”

Akihiro let the two of them sort out whose sandwiches were whose, and smiled at Keith and Akira. “Hello. I made some…intuitive guesses about what you two would like.” With a sort of sly smile, he pushed two sandwiches over. “I had no idea what vegetables you two liked, so I didn’t have any put on them, but if you want some I’ll gladly cut whatever you’d like. Ryou always adds extra olives to his when we get home anyway,” he gestured to the opened can of olives on the table as if to prove his point. “Romelle has kind of been trying everything. Today she’s having Sven’s spicy italian.”

Keith sat down closest to him and across from Shiro and sniffed. He smelled…bacon and eggs?

Curious, he pulled it out of the nicely fitting plastic bag, and began to unwrap it; the bacon and egg smell got stronger, along with melted cheese. Mozzarella? Maybe? He wasn’t too familiar with cheese, but he had an Otherly feeling that it was Mozzarella.

Keith’s mouth watered.

“This is very kind of you, Akihiro. Thank you,” Akira said, having sat down next to Sven and investigated his sandwich too.

“You’re quite welcome,” Akihiro responded. He was still smiling. “I could probably have made a sandwich just as good here, but it only seemed fair if you two got Subway too, since the rest of us did.”

“That’s okay; we would have loved it either way.”

Keith dug into his sandwich. The bread had a nice, tasty flavor to it, but the eggs and bacon were the savory part of it; he could taste pepper on it, too.

It was good. He liked it.

There was small talk while they all ate. Things like, _“Your cat wouldn’t leave me alone, Ryou.”_

_“Well, maybe you should have tried hiding in the game room and locked her out.”_

_“She_ missed _you.”_

_“I would never have guessed from the way she jumped at me. Thank you, Takashi, for enlightening me about my cat.”_

And Sven asking Amue how she was liking her sandwich - _“It’s good. Could use more peppers…”_ \- and Akihiro talking with Shiro about his college school work; he had already gotten his school work through until Wednesday before they even went on their trip to Japan, and he reported that he’d just been finishing it up when he and Ryou got home. It certainly explained the textbooks on the table, to his right. Sven commented that he didn’t go back to work until next week, because he had to use up his vacation time, and told Keith and Akira he’d be more than happy to show them around the ‘Bethel’ area, maybe take them to ‘Freddie’s’ and Walmart if they wanted, to get clothes that actually fit them properly.

Keith mostly listened to them talk; chatting was more of Akira’s thing anyway.

And, of course, because who _couldn’t_ have predicted it, Akira agreed that seeing around sounded _wonderful._ Shiro let them know that Sven should call a couple minutes before they got back, and he’d take Roxxie  back outside for a little bit. Akira thanked him for his thoughtfulness while Keith shifted a little uncomfortably.

The discomfort passed quickly, shed off of him as he took his next bite of the sandwich.

It really was good. He made sure to tell Akihiro ‘thank you’ too.

After they finished eating, Ryou and Romelle disappeared up the stairs, his cat once more perching on his shoulders, and Akihiro announced he was going to the office and that Keith and Akira were more than welcome back there if they wanted; it turned out the door at the _very_ end of the hall was the ‘office’ - Akihiro pointed it out to them in case they decided they wanted to explore more.

“I’m going to go get Roxxie,” Shiro let them know, standing. “And then we’re going up to my room, so you guys will have the house to explore.”

They nodded.

Akira stayed seated, obviously trying to face his phobia -  except it was less anxiety and irrational and more _survival instincts_ \- but Keith more than happily followed Akihiro down the hallway. Akihiro didn’t glance over his shoulder at him, but Keith was certain he knew he was following.

Super hearing, after all. Keen senses.

Keith walked in and was greeted by a cinnamon-pumpkin smell, gentle but predominant, and sandy colored walls. Like the rest of the house, the floors were wooden - the only ‘carpet’ in the house being the rugs in everyone’s rooms…he assumed; he would need to see Sven’s and Akihiro’s rooms to know - and in the right-hand corner walking in, diagonal to the door, was a corner desk. It was bulkier than Shiro’s, with the same plastic mat underneath it as well as its rolling chair. A laptop bag lay on top of its surface. There was other miscellaneous on the desk - a pen holder, some pictures, a plastic coaster with trees on it, and a thermos. The thermos was dark green and had a large gray wolf on it and a black handle.

In the left-hand corner, along the same far wall, was a chair-end table-chair set up.

On said far wall was the first real wall decoration he’d seen in the whole place; two paintings hanging on the wall. They looked like oil paintings, one depicting two human hunters, dressed in old native clothes and mitts, a white dagger, with a red on its tip, at one’s hip and bows on their backs. They hid in a cave, peering out; the sky was dark and littered with stars and an almost-full moon. The moon’s light illuminated the surroundings somewhat, reflecting off a lake in the background as well as the snow on the trees and ground. There were patches without snow, of course - under trees, mostly; Keith thought it might have been early winter for how dark and deep the night was. Nestled under a tree were the bodies of three, unusually _big,_ wolf pups, their gray coats and the snow surrounding them stained with red, much like the white dagger. To the left of that, approaching from a faint forest path to the glittering lake, was a large wolf, so big that it was easily carrying a reindeer in its jaws. Its expression twisted, in a way only an artist’s rendition could, with grief and anger.

Keith thought he understood the story thus far: the hunters had killed this giant wolf’s pups, and then hid in a nearby cave out of fear. The wolf returned with food for them, an entire reindeer, to find them dead.

“My grandfather painted that in college. The theme was ‘mythology,’” Akihiro told him. Keith looked at him, and he was smiling. “He was Native, but…he never really felt close to that identity. And he wanted to do something original; Greek and Egyptian mythology were too common, and he wasn’t familiar with, or comfortable using, others - but it was actually my mom, just six years old at the time, who gave him the idea to look at more Inuit lore. They really liked the stories about amaroqs.”

“He was an artist?” Keith asked; he added, “He was really good.”

Akihiro all but beamed. “Yeah, he was. This used to be his art studio; I’d spend hours in here watching he and my grandma paint and sketch and draw. We would have cookies and juice for snacks, and me and my cousin would draw with color pencils on the floor, over here. I still have the first sketchbook they gave me. And a couple of their old ones, I think.”

Keith turned his focus back to the paintings and inspected the second one. It depicted a small, frail boy wrestling with the tail of an amaraq. Small, stark white bones fell out of his body and into the mossy, branch and bark riddled dirt below. The scene around them was just woods - spring time, with pretty flowers that weren’t yet bloomed, but colorful nonetheless, and green leaves and pine needles, interesting textures on the wood; bark white and peeling - though far in the distance, tiny and almost completely blocked out completely by the tree trunks and branches, there was a village. The lighting was dark and gray, with orange and red and purple staining the clouds above; Keith easily recognized it as sunset. He had seen one just like it coming down from Anchorage.

“What are the stories here?” he asked curiously.

“In the first one, with the two hunters, it’s about a mourner who recently lost a family member and hears of an amaroq nearby. He and another relative go out searching for it, and instead they find her pups, and kill them. The relative became scared, because amaroqs were known to steal souls and punish foolish hunters, so they hid in a nearby cave where they can watch the amaroq return. When the amaroq finds her pups dead, she hastens to the lake, and from its waters she pulls a humanoid form; at that time, the mourner drops dead beside his relative.” Akihiro made hand gestures as he told the story, and Keith was intrigued.

There was a small pause. “The amaroq…stole his soul?” Akihiro nodded. “…why did she pull it out of a lake?”

“I’m not really sure. There are probably more detailed versions of the story, but I don’t know them,” he answered solemnly. He pivoted slightly, to angle himself towards the second painting. “In this one, the boy is ostracized by his village because he is physically stunted, too weak to hunt. He goes into the woods and calls out to the god of strength to make him strong, and the amaroq appears, wrestling him to the ground with its tail. As it does, several small bones fall out of the boy’s body, and the amarok tells him that they were the reason he would not grow. It then told the boy to come back everyday in order to become stronger, and after several days, the boy was strong enough to overcome three bears and he gained the esteem of his village.”

Keith spent a moment absorbing that, staring at the painting. Originally, he had thought the boy was being shaken out of bones for some other reason, but he liked the actual story - the one Akihiro’s grandfather had painted, whether it was exactly accurate to how it was once told - a lot more than whatever he might have guessed. “That sounds…almost like a metaphor for entering manhood?” he wondered aloud.

Akihiro shrugged and pulled out his desk’s chair. “Maybe so. It’s certainly an interpretation I can understand.” He sat down at his desk and started unpacking his bag.

“What do you think it’s about?”

There was a chuckle before a response. “Your guess is as good as mine, kiddo.” He withdrew a professional looking binder and set it aside on the desk. “If you wanted to explore the rest of the house and yard, Roxxie is up in the boys’ bedroom now. It’d be a good opportunity.” A laptop followed the binder onto the desk, and then a short, but thick black covered notebook as well as mechanical pencil joined the mix. “But, of course, you’re welcome to stay in here if you want. I just have some work to tie up; nothing terribly exciting, I’m afraid.”

Keith felt his ears return, swivelling towards the living room. It was much easier to hear what was going on out in the living room from here compared to the gaming room - the walls for the latter must have been especially designed to cancel out noise.

He could hear Akira talking. _“That could have gone…worse.”_

 _“You handled yourself very well, I think,”_ Sven told him. _“Did you want to try going to town later?”_

 _“How likely are there to be dogs? I don’t think I can handle much more excitement today…”_ Keith heard him chuckle nervously. More quietly, he added, _“I can’t even get my ears and tail to hide themselves again.”_

“Thanks,” he said to Akihiro. Akihiro only smiled at him. “I guess I’ll go look around.”

Akihiro nodded. “Have fun,” he watched Keith open the door and lean out, one arm braced against the wall adjacent to the doorway inside the office. “And any snacks you find without a name on them are fair game, if you go into the kitchen.”

Keith glanced back at him, smiled, and gave a thumbs up.

* * *

The next couple of days continued along similarly to the ‘first.’

Minus the rude awakening Ryou had treated them to that morning; Shiro woke them up politely the following day, with a series of knocking on their door, letting them know that it was a good time to go downstairs and get the food Akihiro had once more set aside for them. They all met up downstairs, though Amue was there already, head flopped on Ryou’s shoulder, at some point, and chatted.

They found out that their vacation was supposed to last until Monday, the day Keith and Akira had been woken up, but Akihiro’s dad had a disagreement with gravity that resulted in a broken arm; his cousin had even flown and moved back up almost a whole month earlier than she had originally been planning for, from Hawaii.. That was ‘in spite of’ Akihiro’s brother being with him and taking care of him while he recovered. They just wanted to be there, to be _around,_ after a scare like that. The first thing they had done getting home late-Wednesday or early-Thursday - Keith wasn’t sure which - was go visit them in Kenai. A city that Ryou described as being _“a seaside city so small it barely counts as one except for its importance as a ‘hub of activity’ for people of the peninsula, this side of the mountains.”_

 _“Soldotna isn’t much better…but those two are where any shopping centers are at. Freddies, Home Depot, Walmart, Sportsman’s Warehouse. Et cedra. They’re almost liminal spaces, honestly.”_ he had added.

 _“Sterling is a liminal space.”_ Shiro had rolled his eyes then, at his brothers.

And then they started listing off other towns that people mostly just passed through, stopping _maybe_ to fill up on their gas if necessary.

Ninilchik, going down to Homer - the only thing any of the four could think of that was of note there was the Sealife Center. Nikiski in general; Sven commented on Nikiski being That Place that was almost definitely friendly with knives. An ex of his, who he was still friends with, had someone, a creep coworker he elaborated, break into her home while she was gone and kill her cat. The same home had been rented to people who made meth before she moved in, after they’d been evicted, he wasn’t sure. Sven, that was.

_“To be fair, I know a lot of great people from Nikiski. It just…has a reputation. From what I’ve heard, it lives up to it.”_

Lots of people went there only for the swimming pool, even in the summer when the numerous lakes were readily available. Most people had several reasons why they preferred not to swim in them. One too many episodes of _River Monsters,_ general paranoia, the stupid lily pads where leeches hid out, and the occasional and off-putting case of Swimmer’s Itch.

Those were kind of threats everywhere though.

The four preferred streams and the shallows of rivers, if they were to be honest. It was a nice way to cool down while they were running about with all their fur, and sometimes they’d catch a salmon or trout while they were at it.

Keith and Akira understood the sentiment. Fur was good for keeping one warm when it was cold, sometimes a little too good. But that was the whole purpose of fur: to stay warm.

From there, their conversation jumped from their grandfather, known only as ‘Ojii-chan’ to Keith, to how small all their ‘cities’ were, to liminal spaces, to swimming, and finally to just passionately talking about the thrill of running on all four legs, paws hitting the ground hard and wind blowing through their fur. The rush, the exhilaration. The freedom. Although they were wolves, it was a universally relatable topic for all of them, save Romelle, at the table. Romelle didn’t seem to mind, even adding in how soft Ryou’s fur was and a tease about his ears, again. This time, about how _fuzzy_ they were.

Ryou had been less than enthused, but she’d smiled at him and he melted.

And then, Akihiro had taken Ryou and Amue out, leaving the four of them there. Sven and Akira returned to the game room, and Sven showed him other ‘new’ games - new to Akira, but not actually _new_. Shiro hung out in the living room, curled up on one end of the couch with a textbook on his lap and the TV playing a show in the background. Keith stuck around.

He was curious about human schooling, and Shiro seemed more than happy to let him card through his finished papers and worksheets. Keith used his powers to delve into Shiro’s feelings and experiences at school, but only shallowly.

It felt wrong to do it at all; he pulled his powers back after just a glimpse of anxiety, stressing over a test but trying to keep his head on - reaching down to pet Roxxie, wearing her service dog vest to show she was on duty. Her fur and the gentle way she would lean into Shiro’s hand always helped him relax. Going back further, to high school, Keith found a… _persona_ that was projected onto him: all A’s student, always polite, amiable, to those who talked with him, good at sports, and a member of student council. A role model, and his teachers loved him for it. It stressed him out, though. When he was at home, he curled up on his bed with his homework and his dog at his feet. She occasionally scooted up on the bed every time she sensed him getting too overwhelmed, and nuzzled his hands until he would pet her, put her head over his work and ground him; sometimes she even nudged him to get off the bed, go downstairs, and socialize and eat for a little bit.

Keith caught snatches of Ryou in there, on the bottom bunk of his beds and, truly, not that much different than Shiro in the moment. Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of homework and really feeling the pressure. Shiro would try to help, but a lot of the time it just made Ryou more frustrated - with himself. Roxxie would cross the room to help him, too.

Shiro liked college much better, that was for certain. He felt…lighter, like he had much less to worry about.

So…high school was basically hell, Keith gathered. He folded his ears back; it felt wrong to have delved into Shiro’s head at all. After all, he and his family were being _astonishingly_ open _and_ kind to he and Akira.

He turned his attention to the TV instead.

Wednesday was the first real day of change.

In the morning, when Keith and Akira were woken up earlier for breakfast, Shiro was dressed casually, with a beanie hat added to the mix and a warm jacket, though he kept the tennis shoes over snow boots, and his backpack sat next to his chair. “Are you sure you want to drive me to the college, Dad? I can drive myself…and you’d have to come pick me up later.”

“I’m sure,” Akihiro reassured him. “I have to go to town anyway.”

“Kill two birds with one stone.” Ryou added sleepily. “And save on gas.”

Akihiro nodded. “ _You_ should go back to sleep. I know you stayed up late with Romelle.” He pointed at Ryou with his fork, as if to emphasize his point. Keith wasn’t exactly sure where Amue was, actually.

Ryou made a face. “You don’t have to say it like _that._ ”

It wasn’t long before Shiro and Akihiro had to leave, and Ryou dragged himself up to his room with Roxxie and his cat in tow. They all wished Shiro a good day at school, and then they were gone.

There was no warning for the dog, but Ryou pointed towards the stairs and said, “Room,” and she only glanced at him and Akira. She gave one whine, but they too quickly disappeared. Keith turned his ears upwards to listen to their movement. Ryou flopped on what was quite obviously Shiro’s bed, Roxxie hopped up too, and he murmured something about vacuuming the bed off and throwing everything in the drier later.

Sven closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

“So,” he began, “what do the two of you want to do today? Dad will probably be out all day, so it’ll be a while.”

Keith shared a look with Akira. He wasn’t really sure; he’d just been going through everyday one at a time, no real plans for what he wanted to do.

He did kinda want to go out in the yard, as it was the only place he had yet to explore. Stretching his legs and getting some nice, fresh air did sound appealing though; and the air here was indeed very clean, with a crispy, winter fresh edge to it because of the snow and the cold. But he wasn’t eager for anything like the coyote incident to happen again, whether it was actually coyotes or something else. And he didn’t want to test his luck, honestly.

It’d snowed quite a bit during the last few days he and Akira had just stayed inside. Keith had watched the big fluffy flakes come down so hard it was pure white outside from the dining room table, looking out the large window, about as big as the dining room table if its top was pushed against the wall and legs taken off- no, definitely a bit bigger in both length and height. It covered much of the white wall behind the bench. Sven had announced he was glad none of them had to drive anywhere in that. There had been a whole day when a mama moose and her baby sat just a couple yards away; they had kept Roxxie upstairs or in the garage most of that day, so she didn’t - potentially - get trampled.

“Hm,” Akira said. “I’m not really sure. Was there something you wanted to do?”

Sven shrugged. “Yeah, though I don’t know if either of you would be down for it.” Translation: _it involves dogs and/or lots of people._ Or it involved going outside underdressed for a long, long-ish, duration of time.

“Try me,” Akira challenged.

He opened an eye, and then the other. “Well, I wanted to go for a run with some of this access freetime I have without work to go to. Maybe snag a rabbit. Ryou was supposed to bring one home when he brought you back, Akira, and we haven’t really gone out since. Maybe get another bone for Roxxie.” _Correction:_ it involved both, minus the _“and/or lots of people,”_ with the bonus of a big, giant wolf. Not as big as an amaroq though. He couldn’t help the private observation.

Akira’s eyes slid over to eye Keith, a small smile Keith might have called ‘devious’ if he didn’t know better - good thing he knew better, right? - playing on his lips. “I’m in. What about you, Keith?”

Keith narrowed his eyes.

“It’ll be fine; Sven will still be Sven just as much as you and I are still Keith and Akira in this form.” Akira leaned towards him a little. Kaith kept eyeing him. “Come on. If anything happens, we’ll both be fully charged _and_ we’ll have a big ol’ wolf with us.” Before he could argue or say ‘no,’ Akira added, “And I _know_ you’ve been getting restless. You never did like staying ‘still’ too long and you never will, Keith.”

“Okay, okay,” he conceded.

Akira grinned. Sven arched a brow, but all he said was, “Okay. Let me write a note for Ryou in case he wakes up before we get back. I mean, I’m sure he’ll figure it out, but he doesn’t really like being alone.” He stood and made his way towards the counter across from the refrigerator. Just short of the dishwasher was a small drawer; Sven pulled it open and withdrew a short, practically _pocket-sized_ green notebook and a black pen. He flipped it open to a seemingly random page, checked his watch, and then quickly wrote on the page. He tore it out and stuck it under a wolf’s head magnet on the fridge. Keith noticed it also said _‘so the dog door will be open, if you get up make sure to close it for Roxxie and open the door to let us in. Thanks’_ on the bottom of the page; well, that answered his question about why he had never seen the piece of plastic slid into a slot just in front of the dog door lifted open, instead left effectively closed off. Well, he had actually assumed it had something to do with himself and Akira, and being able to prevent the dog from coming in when they weren’t expecting it. “Alright, let me open the dog door first and then we can get undressed in here. ‘s warmer that way.”

Sven was quick to cross the room and lift the gate. Even faster, in an almost urgent, definitely hurried, _‘this is cold’_ kind of way, to drape his letterman jacket over the back of the chair, and then start pulling his clothes off. Keith kicked Akira under the table before he could get distracted.

Akira sent him a dirty look, then cleared his throat. Sven twisted around to look at him. His shirt and socks were off, and the rest were soon to join.

“We’re getting undressed right here?” _Wow, Akira,_ Keith thought. _Could you sound anymore pleased?_

Sven blinked. “It’s kind of hard to open bedroom doors in wolf form and we don’t have any neighbors nearby, so yes?”

“Fair enough.” Keith closed his eyes in a silent sigh; _way to sound chipper and delighted, brother._ “Not like he hasn’t seen me naked _twice,_ Keith,” Akira added in a near-silent whisper. Sven probably heard it still, but if he did, he did a good job not reacting.

Or he was just indifferent to Akira’s nudity. Which was kind of a…sad thought - maybe? Keith wasn’t one hundred percent sure? - considering Akira _did_ find him attractive and very much was being a pervert. In fact, he was raking his eyes up and down Sven’s backside while he had the chance, before he turned into a wolf. The opportunity wouldn’t last long, probably.

Keith didn’t look, because he _wasn’t_ a pervert unlike _somebody._

And then, fast enough, Keith heard claws _clack_ on the hardwood floor. Despite himself, and knowing the wolf was Sven, he crawled up in his seat, ears folding as tightly as they could against the crown of his head.

He heard Akira inhale sharply and saw him grow rigid. And then, he breathed out deeply, trying to relax.

Sven whined a little; to him, it sounded like he was asking if they were okay, or trying to reassure them. Keith turned his head to look at him.

“You’re, uh. You’re beautiful.” Akira managed to get out. His voice was a little shaky, placing odd emphasis on words without sounding like he really meant to. But he wasn’t, objectively, wrong; Sven had a lovely light brownish sandy colored fur coat with some faint blacks and whites. “Sorry, instinctive… Akira’s tail hackled up behind him, and he shifted uncomfortably. “Ah, stupid tail.” He cursed to himself under his breath, and crawled off his chair stiffly. “Can I…pet you?”

Sven nodded from where he sat by the door, patiently waiting for the two of them to join him.

Akira approached him, looking entirely more skittish than anything else from just his body language. His ears were folded back, though they flicked upwards once, twice, as if Akira was actively trying to look more relaxed. Keith wouldn’t put it past him.

Then he lowered himself to his knees in front of Sven, and reached a hand forward. Keith saw him trying to smile, but it looked too tense for his smiles. Sven stayed very still, meeting Akira’s eyes, and only moved when Akira’s hand finally made contact with his fur; he shifted to lean into the touch. Keith watched as Akira pet him, first tentatively on his cheek, and then moving back more until his fingers were sunk into the fur on Sven’s shoulder. “It’s really soft…” he said, some of the tenseness draining from his smile and his body. “Though, I wonder why it’s brown? Your hair is black.”

Sven didn’t say anything in response.

For a minute, Akira just kept petting him, and Sven’s tail wagged. “Okay,” Akira said. He let his hand drop. “Time to join you. I’m just going to…poof down, if it’s all the same.” Sven still didn’t say anything, but he stood up and ducked out the dog door.

The plastic flap, well, flapped behind him.

Akira quickly followed, quite literally _poofing_ back into fox form with an almost comical popping noise, and ran out too. He stuck his head back in a moment later to stare at Keith.

Keith sighed and slid out of his chair. He picked Akira’s clothes up and put them in the chair, then stripped down and set his clothes aside neatly on the back of the couch instead. Akira’s head disappeared back outside, evidently satisfied Keith was following. He made like his brother, and _poof_ ed into a fox. He stuck his head out warily, looking around. The front porch was a slab of concrete elevated from the path leading around the ‘side’ of the house, where the garage was, to the ‘front,’ and was completely dry and barren of snow. Past it, he could see Sven laying on his belly in the white powder, a mess around him as if he’d jumped into it and rolled around. A dusting of snowflakes, drifting lazily from the cloudy sky above, was just beginning to settle on his fur coat. Akira balanced precariously on the edge of the porch, almost hesitating, before leaping out. He landed with a distinct crunching of snow. It seemed a little anticlimactic to Keith.

He slowly crept out, fur fluffed and ears turning in every direction. The concrete was freezing under his paws’ pads, so it was lightly that he crept over the gray surface and climbed into the snow below. It sunk only a little under his spread weight, only far enough down to cover the black fur of his paws. It wasn’t any less cold, but it was cushier. His tail swept over the snow as he crept low across the distance between himself and Akira, and Sven.

Akira climbed out of the holes he created and all but flopped against Sven in an action weakly disguised as a roll. Keith kept low to the snow, his belly fur brushing over the small crystals of water, until he was pressed flat against it, ears folded back, near them.

His brother rolled back onto his paws and gave him a lick over the right ear.

Keith couldn’t help but think that he didn’t sign up for this. Not for slinking through snow, not for being near a wolf, albeit a werewolf he liked more than disliked, not for running through the woods so soon as after the coyote incident. He would have been fine without any of those things, all contradicting desires disregarded. Keith wished he was an arctic or gray fox, at least, so that his fur wasn’t a vibrant, dark red sticking out amongst the whites and browns; an eagle could probably spot him easily and snatch him up like child’s play were he an ordinary, powerless fox. Still, he would have felt better if his fur were white, or whiter. If he blended in more. Like Sven did; Keith was sure he blended in with the trees very well, at least.

Ryou was probably fantastic at blending in, with his pale, light gray fur. He would have been almost indistinguishable from the snow, probably. Keith kind of wondered what the rest of the family’s fur looked like, with Sven’s and Ryou’s being so different.

But finding that out meant seeing them all in their wolf form, and frankly, he’d pass for the time being.

No, seriously. He would.

Akira continued to groom him for another couple of minutes, and Keith felt himself calming down somewhat. It was a soothing feeling, he couldn’t help the effect  it had on him, just like being rubbed between the ears.

Then he backed off. “ _Well, shall we?_ ” Akira asked, pressing his shoulder against Sven’s haunch. Sven nodded at him and climbed to his feet.

Keith lashed his tail over the snow, and stared up at Sven. He was big. Not big like a moose, but he towered over Keith by at least a couple of feet; a height difference that was larger than when they were human. He supposed that was certainly an upside to his human form, being so much taller than his usual height.

Akira nosed Keith on the hip, a gesture he was familiar with urge him up onto his feet; their mother had done it a lot too, whenever he got particularly invested on chewing on something, whether it be twig, bone, a fruit or piece of meat, and she wanted them to move. His brother had picked up the habit from her as a way to get him moving when he was still young, and the gesture stuck as a silent way to continue saying _‘get up and move.’_ Alternatively, they would just pick him up by the scruff back when he was a pup. Akira had never quite been tall enough compared to him, just a pup too, albeit a considerably older one, when _it_ happened, and by the time he was fully grown Keith was well into adolescence and too big to be carried that way. Akira stumbled and tripped every time, and eventually being accidently dropped, dragged, and fallen onto by his brother had turned into more than enough incentive to get him onto his four paws and in motion.

It was out of habit, too, that Keith climbed to his feet. Akira bumped their shoulders together and then followed after Sven, waiting at the treeline for them. Seeing no real other option, Keith dashed after them; Sven continued watching silently, saying not a word nor even barking. It occurred to Keith that maybe he _couldn’t_ speak as a wolf.

Once they both caught up to him, he led the way into the trees.

In spite of any…misgivings, to put it, Keith lost himself in his strides, the feel of wind on his face and his paws sinking into the snow as he ran - everything they had talked about in the past days. He felt himself unwind, relax, and let his mind just… _go,_ thoughtless and without worry.

They weaved through the trees as they ran. Watching the ground intently as it flew by under his feet, he noticed and could make out vague, mostly filled in by the falling snow so they were only the faintest of imprints, wolf tracks. Sven seemed to be following them, though he didn’t much pay attention to them, with a specific destination in mind. Keith wished he could ask, just so he knew, but chances were that Sven’s bark wouldn’t secretly feed words into his and Akira’s brains; their own barks and gekkers and chitters and calls communicated a feeling, a concept, but no words. They had to _actually_ speak for more complex things like that. Needless to say, bark, or gekker, they probably weren’t on the trail of a rabbit.

“ _Isn’t this towards the river?_ ” Akira asked, jumping against a tree trunk and pushing off of it to easily land next to Sven. He turned his head to briefly nod at him.

 _The river?_ Didn’t Romelle live in the river?

They continued pressing on, still heading towards the river for several minutes until they came upon an opening of trees looking out on a wide expanse of ice and snow, and water that rushed and glittered under the sun’s cold, filtered light. He heard the sound of metal scraping ice, although in a purposeful, familiar way. _Ice skates?_ he wondered. Keith’s ears perked forward as they slowed to a trot, and he hopped up on a snow drift packed over a log or stump, or maybe a big rock, to peak out at the partially frozen river. He was a little surprised that the river was even partly covered by sheets of ice; but then again, this part of the river was narrower than up by Kenai as far as he’d seen on any map, and the temperature was easily below freezing, even down below zero in Fahrenheit - _especially_ at night. Even with the heaters on, it still got chilly in his and Akira’s room, and they had ended up with at least three extra blankets to cover both of them at once, to trap their body heat and keep it insulating them. Ryou claimed that was just because they slept directly under the window. Keith wasn’t sure if he believed him.

Yup, ice skating. Specifically, he saw Amue, garbed in the same clothes she had worn when he and Akira first met her, days ago, plus white ice skates. She dug the edge of her skate into the slab of ice separating her from the dark, icy current below, and hopped. She spun in the air as she did, and landed back on the edge of her skate; a toe-loop, if Keith wasn’t mistaken. He wasn’t very good at identifying skating moves.

The toe-loop was about it, actually.

Amue kept going for a few more moments, turning, and then she put on the brakes, sending shaved ice flying through the air, catching the light and reflecting it, and then coming back down on the ice and in the dark waters. She smiled and waved at him.

“Hey, Keith. I almost didn’t see you there, but that lovely red coat…” she trailed off, chuckling a little, and raised an arm to wipe sweat from her forehead.

 _Oh. Oops…_ he hadn’t meant to distract her or anything like that; he just wanted to take a look. Confirm what he was hearing. He tossed a glance behind him at Sven, who circled the little clearing they were in, and Akira, who was sniffing at a shriveled wild berry bush. Sven nodded at him,  then promptly started digging through the snow with a whine.

Romelle skated over leisurely, dug her picks in, and rested her elbows on the small overlook he stood on; the river was a few feet below it, having eroded at the soil there. “Is that Sven over there? Oh, and Akira! Hello boys,” Amue exclaimed cheerily.

“ _Sorry,_ ” he said. “ _Didn’t mean to distract you._ ”

She waved a hand dismissively. “Nonsense! I quite enjoy visitors- Sven, what are you doing?” She paused, with her hand poised to pet Keith.

Sven only looked up at her, pausing his digging, and flicked his ear at her. Then he resumed, sending snow flying up behind him. Amue clucked her tongue. “Weirdo.” Akira bounded over from the bush he was investigating and in a graceful jump, leaped up next to Keith. Keith butt his head against her hand, and she chuckled. “You’re both adorable,” she declared, more than happily petting him. Romelle lifted up her other hand and scratched at Akira’s head and jaw too. “And your fur is so soft…” she murmured. Smiling, she added, “And, Akira, you have this gorgeous golden hue to your fur!”

She scratched under Keith’s chin, and he all but flopped onto his side in the snow and pushed himself forward to slide in the snow towards her, purring. Akira chittered at her, in response to the complement Keith assumed, and she made an almost cooing noise.

“So, Sven…do you want pets too?” Romelle teased. “I know you boys all _love_ them, and I have plenty to go around.”

Keith yipped at her; if she had more to give, _he_ wanted them, please and _thank you._

However, he didn’t see Sven’s response and all he heard was him halting his dig again. He was back at it quick enough, claws now scrambling against dirt. And then he stopped again, growling a little - but it didn’t sound like a warning type of growl so much as one of effort. Keith craned his head forward to get a look at what he was doing; Sven yanked up a big, white bone from the hole he dug in the frozen ground, and promptly trotted closer to them to settle down on the snow and gnaw at it. Keith started to slide down without his head tilted back to act as an anchor for him; he almost tumbled forward, and would have had Amue not wrapped her hand around his belly. Keith looked up at her; she kept petting Akira for a moment before freeing up her hand to pick him up and tuck him near her body. If Keith hadn’t already been told she was impervious to the cold, he would be scared of her catching hypothermia - that was actually how she and Ryou met, he’d been told. “Careful there, Keith; Sven’s just chewing on…is that a bear bone or a moose bone? Nod once for bear and twice for moose. Twice? Are you _sure_ it’s a moose? Oh, sorry, Akira,” she said in response to his brother’s yip; she set Keith back down, ruffling his ears, and resumed petting them both. Akira leaned far forward into her hand. Keith kept his leaning mild, not wanting to slip again. They both chittered and purred.

The crunching of snow alerted Kaith to Sven’s approach. “Change your mind, Sven?” Amue asked, smirking a little. “I don’t blame you; I give good pets, right boys?” It felt weird to give a verbal response to her question, so Keith yipped at her happily; he was quite enjoying her petting, yes.

Rather than give any indication of a response, Sven grasped Keith’s scruff and lifted him from the ground; Keith curled up stiffly, tail curling between his legs. “Sven!”

He swung in the air as Sven turned his head.

“ _Are we going?_ ” Akira asked, sitting up straight. Keith stared around, eyes wide. He bobbed up and down when Sven nodded, going so low that his butt touched the snow. Akira looked up at Amue.

“Aw. Well, I guess this it for now. See you guys later,” she said, waving smally at them. “You owe me a hug next time, Sven.”

* * *

Sven spent the rest of the afternoon outside, apparently skinning, washing, and gutting the rabbit he caught as necessary, by himself. Keith could see him if he looked out the living room window, out towards the firewood shed, wearing a raggedy, old set of clothes that had paint stains, and maybe some blood stains, on them.

He threw the scraps of fur and entrail into a bucket, and a few feet away from him, on her dog runner cable, Roxxie gnawed on the moose bone he had dug up at the river; Sven had swung back by to ask - shapeshifting for all of forty seconds in which he was _definitely_ cold and Akira was _absolutely_ pervish. Keith hadn’t even bothered to bite him or anything, Sven had to know the risks of being naked in front of people like that - Amue if she’d take it by the house whenever. She more than gladly agreed, utterly unaffected by his nudity, not even _glancing_ unlike _somebody. Again._

Keith supposed digging bones up was a good, and _cheaper,_ alternative to buying them.

Romelle bopped around in the kitchen with earbuds in and humming loud. He could faintly hear the music, but no one in the house, except Hana, actually needed to have their music turned up to full volume unless they were trying to block everyone else out when they were being noisy, what with the super and enhanced hearing they all had. Ryou sat at the table with a textbook and journal all his own out, working out on what was presumably science, if the way he kept laughing quietly and to himself was an indicator. _“But can you explain werewolves?”_ he had asked the book once, more of a private mutter than anything else.

Akira had pulled out what was evidently Sven’s 3DS and was playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time while lounging on the couch. He was curled up with his back to the arm of the couch closest to the dining room - conveniently so he could peek out the window if he wanted.

Keith was almost - _almost_ \- embarrassed by the quickly progressing crush, but - well, it was as Akira had said: Keith got them too.  Not often, but there were, uh, humans, if they wanted to group werewolves and nereids with them for the moment, not that they needed to be except for Akira’s thing for Sven, he had gotten crushes on fast and hard, or that he had simply found attractive. It was kind of sweet too, even if Keith pinched the bridge of his nose about it and had been so… _”why would you give a human your orb?!”_ about the whole situation. Now that that bit was behind them and Akira could just play with his orb-on-string-necklace whenever he wanted, no threat of dying, he was free to crush all he wanted. Some younger brother judging and teasing was mandatory, but. Keith was okay with it.

He’d maybe made the mistake of asking Akira if he intended to do something about seeing Sven naked three times - or would have, when he had originally asked before they got back to the house and the tally had only been at two - and gotten the answer, _“Well, hopefully he sees me without clothes just as many times.”_

Which…yeah, when they were getting dressed once they got back made the third time for them both, but…okay, Keith _had_ asked.

What response was he expecting but innuendo? He had himself to blame.

It was an hour or so longer before Akihiro and Shiro got back, three people in tow. First was a loud boisterous man identical to the Akihiro in all but hair,  tattoos, and nose; his hair was too short to be pulled back into even a small ponytail and Keith couldn’t see any visible tattoo, and his nose looked like it’d been broken when he was younger and healed a little oddly - he was also clearly older judging by his deeper signs of aging. The second was an older man, with wolf teeth on a red string around his neck and an arm in a sling. The person to finally close the door to the garage was a woman with waist-length brown hair, braided and with pink, white, and red stripes dyed in it side-by-side on the back-right side. “Uncle Richard! Aunt Lily!” Ryou exclaimed, all but leaping from his seat. “Ojii-chan!” _Their grandpa?_

Shiro dumped his backpack on the dining table and flopped down in a chair.

‘Richard’ grinned big and lopsided, and held open one arm. “Hey, kiddo!” he greeted Ryou, pulling him into a side hug. He clapped Ryou on the back, then pulled back. “How are you? How’s your homework going?”

“I’m good, and it’s going fine.” Ryou answered, batting away a hand trying to ruffle his hair.

His aunt, ‘Lily,’ sighed, thwarted. “It’s no good; I haven’t been able to get a good ruffle in since his hearing kicked in.” She pouted for a moment. “ _Aaaaakiiii_ ,” she complained, drawing out each vowel long. It struck Keith as something kids and teens were more inclined to doing, in that particular way.

Akihiro rolled his eyes, draping his arm around his son’s neck. And then, he plopped his other hand atop Ryou’s head, and ruffled. Ryou contorted his face and tried to smack his arm and hand away too, _immediately;_ Akihiro caught his hand, laughing. “You’re just doing it wrong, sis. You have to be pushy. Trap him first.” His son glowered at him, but he just grinned. Richard reached forward to take advantage, and lightly mussed up his hair; then Lily did. Ryou’s eye twitched. “Or be his girlfriend,” Akihiro added, releasing his youngest to give Romelle, who’d bounced up, grinning, a hug. “I imagine that’s how Takashi will get him in a Christmas sweater this year too.”

Ryou retreated a safe distance away from the trio, over to his grandfather; he didn’t seem to catch a break with him, either, because ‘Ojii-chan’ lifted a hand to ruffle his hair fondly, too. Ryou accepted it with a resigned sigh and a small smile. “How’s your arm?” he asked.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, kiddo. It’ll heal up fine.” Although Ojii-chan was certainly old, at least in his seventies and his hair was _pure_ white, like snow, with age, he certainly seemed vigorous enough for his claim to be valid in Keith’s eyes. He wasn’t exceptionally muscular or anything, but he seemed like he did a full workout regimen a day that…well, he maybe shouldn’t have given his disagreement with gravity. Push ups, pull ups, sit ups, cardio. Lots of cardio. He had the same broad shoulders as his sons - they definitely got it from him, that was for sure - and his grandsons. A… _Shirogane_ trait, if one would; even Lily had broader shoulders than he was used to seeing on a girl, and she showed them, as well as her visible but not body-builder bulky biceps, off with a layered tank top duo. The top one was blatantly a body builder’s tank top, with the holes for the sleeves extending farther down the sides than was strictly necessary. “Come on, give me a hug.” Ojii-chan added, holding up his arm. The uninjured one, of course.

Ryou stepped in to give him a side hug like he’d given his uncle, more careful this time, though. “Do you want me to go get Sven?” he asked, pulling his head back somewhat to look at his grandfather. Ryou was a good few inches taller than him, though he had gone in under his grandpa’s arm; it out him at an awkward kind of angle. “He’s out preparing a rabbit right now…”

Ojii-chan smiled a little.

“I’ll go get him,” Richard told them. “Maybe offer him an assist with that rabbit.”

Keith flicked his ear curiously as he headed for the door, but stopped with his hand on the knob. “Oh, right. Aki, didn’t you want to introduce us to a couple of foxes?” He pivoted to look at his brother, tilting his head at he and Akira watching all of them with interest. They hadn’t bothered to disguise their ears, either.

“Ah, yes. Akira, Keith, this is my older brother, Richard; he’s an old man, so go easy on him if he gets you two mixed up,” Akihiro teased. His brother muttered _“brat”_ under his breath. “And this is my sister, Yuri, but call her ‘Lily.’” She waved at them. “This is my dad, Ryou, the elder, but you can just refer to him as Ojii-chan.” He smiled at them, with a weird, though not malicious by any means, look in his eyes, and nodded at them. Keith couldn’t help but perk up at his name. Ryou was named after him, then? Their nickname for him, and exclusive usage of it, seemed more practical than ‘quirky’ now. “Richard, Lily, Dad, this is Akira on the couch and Keith in the chair.”

Keith waved a little. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Akira greeted for the both of them.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Richard said. He opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. The music playing from Sven’s radio at his feet became audible, although faintly; Keith hadn’t realized he had music playing - it must have been quiet, anyway. “Hey, Sven!” He waved at him.

Keith was a little surprised Sven hadn’t heard them pull in on the snow and gravel, not to mention the garage door opening. He must have been really focused.

Sven and Roxxie both looked up at Richard’s call.

“Yeah, Rox, your boy is home!” he laughed, seeing her perk up. She scrambled to her paws; Keith did his best impression of a - sane - cat with water, and flailed in his seat in alarm. He wasn’t _calling_ her inside was he?!

“Richard! Foxes!” Akihiro shouted as Shiro rushed towards the door. He slipped past his uncle easily and slid to the ground, hugging his dog before she could get to the porch. She barked, loud but high-pitched, certainly _happy,_ and licked his face once. Keith slid down in the chair slowly. His tail was uncomfortable for a moment, squished, first, by his pants and, second, his weight; he adjusted his position to fix the problem, and it hugged close to his leg anyway. His ears turned down in displeasure; he didn’t like this. Richard stared at him and Akira, both with tails and only _sort of_ glaring at him, Keith more so than Akira; Akira had been working on his thing, after all, so he handled the unexpected almost-encounter at least a little better. Running with Sven had taken some of the edge of instinctive panic, but there was a big, undeniable difference between a werewolf in wolf form and a plain old dig controlled by instincts, with no higher thinking. “They’re very skittish around dogs still.”

Akira bobbed his head a little, though more in an uncertain gesture, _“kind of,”_ than agreement.

Richard grimaced a little. “Really?”

“…yeah, they’re kitsune. Like the ones grandma liked to draw? And would tell stories about?”

He shrugged. “I never noticed. You were really the only one who got told stories by them, kiddo.”

Akihiro placed a hand on his hip and gestured with the other. “You can’t call me and Ryou both ‘kiddo,’ you know.” Lily slung an arm over his shoulder  in spite of being a little over half a head shorter than him. Akihiro side-eyed her.

“Sure we can! You’re the baby and so is he!”

“You’re older than me by three minutes. _Three._ ” He looked at her flatly. “And Richard is only four years older.”

“ _Bay-bee._ ” She grinned at him. Keith could only describe it as ‘shit-eating.’

Akihiro crossed his arms. “Well I guess that just makes you an old woman and Rich over there _ancient._ Uh, no offense, Dad.” Ojii-chan waved it off as he lowered himself into the chair at the head of the table, while his other two children spluttered indignantly. Lily tried to get her twin into a headlock, fist prepared for a noogie, but he pushed her off of him, hand covering most of her face and squishing her nose against her face.

“None taken.” Ojii-chan said. “They’re being brats.”

“Dad!” the two called, sounding - dramatically - betrayed.

“It’d be one thing if the age gap between you and Richard were more like Ryou and Sven’s.” their dad continued; his youngest grandson and namesake grunted in agreement. It was nine years, wasn’t it? Keith was pretty sure that was right.

For certain, he was very intrigued to see Akihiro with his siblings; it was a whole new facet to him he, of course, hadn’t actually gotten to see. Akihiro was nothing if not friendly and well-mannered, and at times playful and teasing. He did it in good fun and consideration - his children usually walked right into it, so to speak. Usually to settle a growing argument or because he couldn’t resist. With his siblings, it seemed to him that there would be a natural dynamic very different from that which Keith had gotten to see thus far - and such was the case he was seeing already. Like calling his sister an ‘old woman’ and his brother ‘ _ancient’._ Good ol’ classic sibling banter. _Nice._

“Hey, Rich,” Akihiro said, still holding his sister’s face at arm’s length, “Weren’t you going to help your nephew with that rabbit? The cold hasn’t made your joints swell too much, has it?” Grinning like a little shit, in a way only younger siblings could, he continued, “Did you try shutting the door to warm up? Did you forget it was open? You _are_ always forgetting things.”

“I’m not senile yet!”

Lily turned her head to look at Richard, snickering. In unison, the two said, “Could have fooled us; you know, it’s not _un_ common for someone in their fifties to devel-”

Richard closed the door behind him and made his way across the yard.

“I think he’s a little sensitive about his old age, Aki. We didn’t even call him senile _first_ this time.”

“I’m surprised he can move that well with those bad joints, Lil. Look at him; an inspiration to all. I can only hope I handle such age as well as he does.” Akihiro responded in a dramatically solemn tone.

Lily snickered again. “He gets it from Dad. Most vigorous man of age I ever knew.”

“Oh great,” Ojii-chan sighed. He whispered to Ryou, “Do you think they know?”

Ryou shrugged. “Maybe.”

“May he rest peacefully, right?” Akihiro agreed. “There’s hope for us yet.”

“Morbid brats.” their father mutterred.

“ _Sometimes_ I can still hear nim,” Lily confessed, placing her hands over her heart. Keith blinked at them. _Okay._ “Calling us brats like old times.”

Akihiro wrapped an arm around her and pat her far shoulder. “I can’t believe we lost him to the _incredibly ancient_ age of seventy-six, just twelve minutes ago. Or something.” He twisted around to look at Ryou, who was grinning a little _too_ much and trying not to snigger. Next to him, Ojii-chan stared at his children with a flat, unamused expression. “Today, my poor youngest son witnessed- shit, wait. Lily, how did Dad die? Was it a dramatic keel over or did his body disintegrate into the blowing wind, like ashes?”

“I think the blowing away sounds better,” Ryou chimed in. _Both_ Ryous chimed in, actual. The Elder’s suggestion was a mutter accompanied by, “You could at least make my death cool.” To which his grandson snorted.

“There’s no wind in here…” Lily said, raising a hand  to her mouth considerably.

“We have a fan in my room, we’ll pretend it was down here,” Akihiro supplied.

“Deal- today,” she immediately jumped back into character, voice taking on a comical solemnity, “your poor youngest son witnessed his grandfather, his last living grandparent, blow away in the wind of your fan like crumbling burnt paper. He must be heartbroken! And oh-! However will Shiro and Sven react!”

Ryou snickered a little and made eye contact with his grandpa. “Oh yes; I am _terribly_ broken up over it. Just falling to pieces as we speak.” He rubbed at his upper lips and hissed something else that Keith didn’t make out.

Keith felt Akira’s eyes on him, and turned his head to look at him. His expression read of amusement and confusion in equal measure, as if not really sure how to feel or react. It was funny, and Keith wouldn’t deny that, but he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about it himself.

‘It’ being joking that their father had passed away.

They kept going for a few more minutes, teasing and ribbing each other and their father, as Keith had decided to dub it for a lack of coming up with a better term, until Shiro came through, apologizing to Keith and Akira about the dog. Roxxie stayed next to his side, though she whined about not being able to say ‘hello’ to he and Akira - except, then, Akira set the 3DS down and pat the side of his leg. She recognized that as a beckoning, and bounded over, completely shunning Lily and Ojii-chan, to set her head on his thigh. Shiro opened his mouth to say something, but closed it thoughtfully when Akira ran a hand through her fur. Keith stared at him, surprised. “Dogs can be a little…startling, but Roxxie’s a big sweetie,” he said. “Well, not quite ‘big’ right now but…you know. Surprises aside, I’m fine with her.” He swished his tail happily, sweeping it into the air. “She likes pets just like us - especially on those fuzzy ears!” To emphasize his point, he ‘furiously’ pet them, rubbing at their bases and making them flop around.

Roxxie wagged her own curled tail behind her and scooted a little closer. She almost looked like she was grinning.

Akira kept petting her happily enough. Keith continued staring. Shiro and Akihiro looked thoughtful. Lily pouted a little over being brushed off and ignored by her. Ojii-chan smiled a little.

Keith recalled Akihiro saying something about their - his - grandmother drawing kitsune. Was that maybe what Ojii-chan’s earlier, weird look was about? That his mother used to draw kitsune, and they _were_ kitsune? Akihiro had said something about his grandfather feeling a disconnect from his culture; that it was something they had bonded over, even. Was it the same, or at least a similar, case with his own parents, he wondered? Had Ojii-chan and Obaa-chan - for lack of knowing her name, Keith supposed; she was the one whose father had done those two lovely paintings - also felt, and bonded over, that feeling? There was definitely some emotional… _sentiment_ there, Keith was sure of it. He just didn’t know it exactly; maybe later he would find the opportunity - and the words - to ask him about it.

Amue came over to get in on some of the loving, sitting on her knees on the floor. She gave Akira a big smile.

Ryou started to gnaw on what looked like a bone, but maybe it was a white ‘chew toy’ of some sort, tied to brown hemp - _strange,_ Keith hadn’t noticed him wearing a new necklace - and rubbing at his jaw. He couldn’t quite see his face, but it seemed like he was grimacing.

The sound of his teeth digging into and chipping whatever it was that he was chewing on, caught the attention of everyone in the room. Akihiro leaned down next to him and whispered in his ear. “Werewolf puberty 2.0,” Amue said, quietly. Everyone could still probably hear, but. “The fangs came in when he woke up, apparently.”

“‘Fangs’?” Akira asked, arching a brow.

She nodded. “Yeah, apparently. Hey, Shiro!” She turned her head quickly, causing many of her white tresses to fall over her shoulder. “Show them the thing-y.”

“The…’thing-y.’” he repeated. And then his brows went up. “Oh! You mean this?” He held out his right hand in a fist, and opened it fast; Keith heard the sound of nails on skin, and then a quiet _fwip._ He blinked at the long, sharp claws, the large canines that showed themselves when he pulled his lips back into what was - maybe - supposed to be a smile, and the black markings around his eye, like eye-liner taken to the extreme around to _inside_ of his eyelid’s rim, right next to and far too close to the actual eyeball itself. So…black-rimmed like an actual wolf’s eye. “I guess you could call it puberty 2.0,” he said, though the tone of his voice suggested it wasn’t a preferred term, and his words came out a little awkwardly because of his teeth. Keith could still understand him just fine. “And, of course, I can do just a set of claws, or the teeth, or eyes.”

Keith stared, not entirely sure how to react. He hadn’t really thought about werewolves and their powers, how or when they got them or if they had more than the keen senses and wolf form. It seemed really obvious to him, now; didn’t original stories of them have them transform into a wolfish “man,” often depicted as taking on an anthropomorphic form? Or both? Keith wasn’t exactly sure, to be honest.

He could probably ask Akihiro more about it, actually. He’d know more, more likely than not.

“Oh,” he said for a lack of another response.

He also hadn’t noticed Ryou with any fangs, or having difficulty speaking. Unless…he had been rubbing just above his lips because…?

Keith rubbed at the spot himself and found he could massage the gums of his canines.

Shiro ran his clawed hand through his hair, pushing his bang back. He ruffled his hair a little, then pulled his hand back to examine the claws. They were black and sharp, smooth-surfaced and hooked out from where his nails had been; it looked a little odd, but then again he was unaccustomed to seeing humans with claws. Of course something would look off about it - at least they weren’t bear claws. _Just sayin’._ “None of us really use it all that often, if I’m being honest…”

“It’s good for scaring bears.” Lily added. Keith swore he saw her ear twitch a little, but that was weird, wasn’t it? Human ears didn’t really _move._ They were pretty fixed in place.

Keith heard a distinct crunch from Ryou and glanced over. Whatever it was he’d been…teething on, because that _was_ what he’d been doing it turned out, was snapped in half with long gouge marks in the half he could see. “This is why Zoey says to use ice-cubes, Aki.” Lily said, gesturing at the ‘chew toy’ as she approached. _Zoey?_ That was a familiar name. He hadn’t thought about the Zoey they met before, at the airport, much at all. “Free, unlimited, and way easier to clean up the splinters. Also, the cold is nice on the gums.”

“I see her point,” Akihiro agreed. “I’ll have to freeze some ice cubes for you to munch on whenever they pop out,” he told Ryou, briefly setting his hand on Ryou’s head. Then he made his way into the kitchen.

“Dude, bro, Aki.” Lily said. “You don’t already…have ice cubes frozen up?”

Keith heard a small clatter, just Akihiro grabbing the tray from atop the fridge, and then the door opening. They had to get their drinking water from the filter in the fridge, because of the iron levels in the tap - even with the water softener in the pantry. Well- they _could_ drink straight from the tap, but it wasn’t recommended. “We weren’t expecting him to hit ‘puberty 2.0,’” Akihiro emerged from the kitchen, giving a nod to Amue as if to thank her new, coined term, “Until May next year, around his birthday.”

“I can’t believe you used that term…” Ryou muttered. More quietly, an indicator that was a personal complaint, he added, “What’s wrong with just calling it the way we always have?”

“It’s a good term.” Akihiro told him calmly, although he seemed a little amused. “Nice and easy to use. And it clearly conveys the idea that your body is undergoing changes beyond your control. And that it lasts a while.”

Ryou groaned.

“Maybe longer since you’re an early bloomer.” Lily draped herself over her twin. “There’s an early bloomer in every generation.”

“I’m not quite sure I understand this second puberty,” Akira said, brows furrowed together.

Before Akihiro could say anything, Lily grabbed his face with her hand and pushed him ‘out of the way,’ then proceeded to lace her fingers, twist her wrists, and crack her knuckles and her neck. “Step aside, baby brother. It’s _my_ turn to be the teacher. Ryou, I need your journal and your pencil.”

“Uh, sure.” Ryou responded, handing them off.

Ojii-chan shook his head a little, while Akihiro decided to stare up at the ceiling. Keith wondered what was going through his mind. Shiro wandered over to his brother and father and grandfather, gesturing at himself.

Lily picked up a dining table chair and set it down in front of them, and then sat in it. “Okay, so…” she paused momentarily and started drawing on a clean sheet of paper. “For born werewolves, we’re basically human until puberty.” She kept drawing. Almost as an afterthought, she added, “Like…legit puberty. The one all humans go through. That’s when our wolf senses start to come in, and around the age of thirteen - I don’t know what it is about the age thirteen, don’t ask - is the first shift. Sometimes a little sooner or a little later. Now, because people born with uteri - don’t look at me like that, Aki, there’s no better way I know to word that - uteri people, if you will, on average start puberty anywhere from the age ten to fourteen while people with penises - I will smack you if you giggle, Ryou; I am a _doctor,_ I get to say ‘penis’ often-” Ryou only started to giggle after she addressed him; she did not smack him either, “-the onset of puberty is usually closer to twelve to sixteen; I’ve never personally known a werewolf to actually have a late onset though, I wonder if that’d make the shift take longer to occur? _Anyway,_ that wasn’t my point- I got this nice, steady build up of the senses, and earlier than Aki,” she snorted, but held up the journal. She had drawn two graphs it looked like, depicting the slope of…did that say ‘senses build up’? One of them had a much gentler slope extending for longer, while the other looked like it had twice the incline in half the time. “…while Richard and Akihiro got this hellish onslaught and overwhelming dump of the senses all at once and turned into grumpy wolves over night, with splitting headaches and aches and pains in places _I_ didn’t know existed because _I_ never got them.”

“She’s very proud of that, by the way,” Akihiro told them. He went right back to talking quietly to Shiro; Keith glanced over and his fangs and claws and black-rimmed eyes were still out. He looked rather distressed over the fact.

Lily used the pencil to circle the graphs, ignoring her brother. “Of course, this is Puberty 1.0. Puberty 2.0-”

“Can we _not_ call it puberty, actually.” Ryou interjected, sounding a bit snappish.

“Suuuure. _2.0_ \- which is what we usually just call ‘transitioning’ - is its own very special blend of _‘fuck you.’_ ” Akihiro gave her a flat look. She kept rolling on without giving him the opportunity to chide her language. “Basically what goes on is, well, the inspiration for shows like Teen Wolf - never speak of that show to me, by the way. Don’t watch it either, the kitsune lore - with an asterisk, by the way - will make you want to slam your head through glass while screaming about whether the writers actually put any effort into the lore, or did any research before hand - _wherein_ you have a pretty humanoid werewolf, usually without a wolf form; they just get pretty claws and fangs, maybe some other physical changes. 2.0 leads up to the Van Helsing werewolf, all furry and anthropomorphic - but, also, uh, not controlled by a vampire or ravenously out to hunt your family. Though…bitten werewolves apparently have more issue. Like, both all at once issues. Those who don’t have a strong enough willpower or possess a pre-disposition towards violence, murder, etc. seem to lose their shit, we’re not really certain why - probably a by-product of the actual and literal anti-social disorder, versus the commonly mislabeled asocial one - and I have to seriously question the werewolf who decided it was a good idea to bite them. They were probably an asshole.” Lily rolled her wrist. “For example, infamous serial killers…Peter Stumpp, Pierre Burgot, Michel Verdun - probably _were_ werewolves like the stories quote them being. Gilles Garnier, the ‘Werewolf of Dole.’ He was almost definitely a werewolf.” She started to continue, but cut herself off. “Sorry, I’m getting off track again.”

“That’s okay,” Akira reassured her. “I don’t really know anything about werewolf lore or history, so it’s rather fascinating to me.”

“I’ll have to get you set up with the internet.” she said, tapping her cheekbone. “There are troves of werewolf myths and the possible origins; but, touching on my observation of it being ‘bitten’ werewolves - wait, do you even know what Van Helsing is? Aki, we’re going to have to get that out and watch it with them - born werewolves tend to be far less high strung than any Bitten I’ve ever met. Which makes sense because the bite can radically change a person’s life on top of any trauma caused during the biting itself- but, this all isn’t to say born werewolves aren’t incapable of being serial killers and acting animalistic. Anyone can do that, even precious nymphs.” Lily glanced at Romelle, who nodded solemnly.

Romelle kept petting Roxxie. “Forest nymphs are the worst, honestly. It’s not unwarranted though…not really. And there was a nereid who really got a kick out of drowning people, too.”

“ _This_ is why I like to handle all educational topics, Lil. You start talking about serial killers and _‘get that one movie out, Aki!’_ every time. She does it _every time,_ Dad. I’d be concerned if I hadn’t grown up with her doing this - you remember when she wrote that essay of historical figures on allegedly ‘werewolf’ serial killers? And our history teacher called you and mom in to talk about it? Just, wow.” Akihiro shook his head, brown eyes lifting towards the ceiling. “Or that time she wrote an in-depth ‘short’ story about Lycaon feeding Zeus human flesh? He got sent to the Principal’s office out of concern of the disturbing content she was producing.”

His father just shook his head slowly.

Shiro and Ryou exchanged glances and tilted their heads back and forth slightly, contemplating.

“No one asked you, Aki.” Lily returned, crossing her arms with the journal still in hand. “And it’s not _always_ serial killers or werewolves. _Sometimes_ it’s random, vaguely related trivia.”

“Oh, my _bad._ ”

“ _Anyway,_ ” she continued, giving her brother a pointed look; as far as Keith could tell, Akihiro paid it no mind. Shiro had sat down in the chair next to Ryou and was bent over with his face buried in his still-clawed hands. Ryou was trying not to laugh even as he and Akihiro pat him on the back. Keith could faintly hear him muttering _“four months, dammit…_ to himself. He wasn’t really sure what that meant or referred to. “Transitioning. Where was I…? Oh, right, fuzzy anthropomorphic Van Helsing werewolves without the murder. It’s basically a self-defense mechanism leading into full adulthood - not just _legal_ adulthood, okay. If you really get, say, Sven’s ‘fight or flight’ instincts screaming, ‘fight’ would be 2.0 in its various forms and ‘flight’ would be the standard wolf form. Leading up to ‘fight,’ though, is two or four years of your fangs and claws and eyes coming in whenever they want, really- okay, more like…a strong correlation with your emotions that makes it impossible to not have them pop out all of the time, and depending on their duration we call it ‘off-on’ or ‘consistent.’ It’s worse at the start, and over time you start to get control over it, but it’s not perfect…looking at Shiro, for an example. He’s having some issues reining them back right now, but he’ll probably be done with it all by the Cold Moon. He’s a lot like his dad in terms of emotional discipline.” She grinned in delight. “But for now, he’s dealing with one of the last instances where he won’t have full control of his fangs and claws!”

 _“Thanks, Aunt Lily,_ ” came his muffled response. Ryou snickered a little. Almost vindictively, he added, “ _It’s your turn next, brat._ ”

Ryou grinned, though Shiro didn’t see it for a minute until he peaked through his fingers to see why his response was so far silent; from where he sat, Keith couldn’t see any bulky, longer than normal canines, and those were pretty hard to miss. “Mine went away already.” he announced finally.

Shiro gave him a withering glare, then hid his face in his hand once more, with a heavy sigh. “ _Of course they did._ ”

 _“Off-on.”_ Lily whispered, pointing at Ryou. “Lasts for very short durations but happen more frequently. Caused by ‘instability.’”

While this was truly fascinating, there was something bothering him. “Uh, speaking of which,” Keith started, sitting up straighter. He was so damn short, he had to make sure he was able to be seen easily. The four of them looked at him. “When, uh, did you get the teether?”

Ryou arched a brow. “It was in my pocket. I ate half of it while brooding in my room. They were really persistently off and on for a couple of hours there…”

“ _Ha,_ ” Shiro laughed. “Yours are early _and_ off-on. Mine were at least consistent.”

“You cried the first day your teeth came in.” Ryou deadpanned. Shiro looked mortified, but none of the adults, or Amue - Keith wasn’t sure if she counted as an adult or not, actually - felt the need to say anything. “You and Sven _both._ It’s like…” He started counting on his fingers. “…one of the four times I can recall you crying.” Ryou crossed his arms and concluded, “I’ll take my off-on fangs, thanks.”

Lily decided to chime in at that, as of she felt the need to correct something. Or, make sure Keith and Akira knew. “I remember my fangs would alternate between lasting a couple hours and being off-on. Off-on days always hurt more.”

Akihiro turned to his father, his again. “Dad, I think Shiro and Ryou are having one of those rarely-had arguments where you wish pain on your sibling for laughing at your misfortune. What happened to my little boys? Does Ryou remember he’s the crier of the family? Does Shiro remember that he cried over Ryou getting sick as a baby? Do they _remember?_ ” Keith recognized it as humor, him joking, by the dramatic lilt to his voice and lopsided curve of his lips.

His sons looked at him more or less flatly, unimpressed with his drama. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” they said in unison.

Ojii-chan chuckled. “They must have gotten that niceness from their mother. You and Lily were always getting into fights with each other _and_ Richard.”

“Oh yes. I think I tied her braid to her bed once.”

“In retaliation, I dyed _your_ hair pink while you were asleep.”

“Bubblegum wasn’t a bad look on me.” he answered thoughtfully. Keith tried to picture him with bubble-gum pink hair, but it didn’t quite work in his head; he couldn’t quite see it. Also… _how_ exactly did you manage to dye someone’s hair without them knowing? Was he trying to dye his hair some other color and she pulled a switcheroo with the original dye and the pink?

No, wait - she said she did it while he was sleeping. _How?_

“Van Helsing?”

“I- yes, okay, you damn Helsinger. I’ll go navigate the movie shelf for it.”

“Yeah, well Mom was also very strict about the sibling dichotomy.” Shiro said finally, while his aunt clapped and hopped from the chair to the couch. “Doesn’t mean I can’t hope this brat’s fangs hurt like all of ours di- you took ibuprofen, didn’t you?”

“I took four. I learn vicariously from your and Sven’s experiences.”

“…-” Shiro made to say something, but closed his mouth. His eye twitched and he glanced from side-to-side, blinking a couple of times. Then he locked eye contact with his brother.

Keith watched them stare at each other for a minute. Ryou twirled his teether in the air. Shiro scowled at him, eyes narrowed. Without breaking eye contact, he asked, “So…do I get my journal and pencil back, or…?”

“Oh, riiiight.” Lily said. “Yeah, you get them back, but why don’t you two come sit over here and watch the movie with me and Akira and Keith, while your dad makes us dinner? Sadly, Ryou, you’ll probably get the floor.”

“Whoa,” Akihiro twisted around, movie in hand, to look at her. “I said I’d make _Dad_ food, nothing about _you two._ You have to cook for yourself, sis.” Keith wasn’t sure if he was teasing her or not; he looked deathly serious. But Keith couldn’t imagine him actually meaning it, since his siblings were his guests. That just wasn’t like Akihiro.

“Suuuure,” she responded. “If you want me, the lesbian who can’t cook to save her life or her wife’s, to accidentally set your kitchen on fire.”

Keith’s eyes widened a little, surprised. Akihiro _was_ serious about her cooking her own food. She couldn’t have been so bad at cooking so as to _actually_ set the kitchen on fire…right?

“Being gay is no excuse to not be able to cook even noodles, Lily.” It was sounding like they’d had this conversation before.

Her response was automatic, complete with her spreading her arms in a _‘what?’_ type of gesture: “How else am I going to piss off men with 50’s thinking? _Aki._ ”

“You could try kneeing them in the nuts, or punching them in the face, or judo-flipping them. It’s what Melanie does.”

 _Melanie?_ The names pile kept getting added to.

“That’s kind of assault.”

“If you time it right, it’s self-defense.”

Ryou sighed a little. “Oh, the claws are back,” he noted, pressing his thumb against the black backside of one. His father glanced at him, but seemed to decide it wasn’t something to worry about. For the moment, at least.

“That implies they’re dumb enough to try touching me.”

“You could cut your hair and wear a tuxedo.”

“ _There’s_ an idea.”

Akihiro tossed the movie case onto her lap.“…fine. I suppose I can cook for you and Richard even though you’re both Grown Up Adults who need to learn how to cook more than instant ramen, rice, and cereal.”

Lily clapped her hands together. “Thank you~” she said in a sing-song voice. “And Richard can cook bacon and sausage!”

“Fantastic. Next I have to worry about Dad having a heart attack.”

“Aw…c’mon.”

Ojii-chan stood up, brushing himself off, and made his way over to the chair nearest to Akira. “Are you going to put the movie in or what?” he directed at his daughter. She startled a little. He turned to his grandsons. “Boys, go let your brother and uncle know, then come sit with us.” The three practically leapt to their feet.

Keith was a little surprised by how fast they moved.


End file.
